Not Just A Bet
by sugar1621
Summary: There's no way out of it now. Don Ressler must ask Lizzie Scott out to prom, and that's that. A/U
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: First of all, I'd like to thank everyone who took the time to read (and especially reviewed!) my first fanfiction; I really appreciate it! Anyways this is probably going to be a multi-chapter fic, and it's based on the premise of the movie "She's All That" with a few minor tweaks (tbh I haven't even seen it in its entirety but I know the basic plot) and it is quite OOC. Not so proud of this first chapter but please tell me what you think.**

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but the writing. Everything else belongs to NBC.**

...

Don Ressler's not one to dwell on things. Especially breakups.

That's why he's quit thinking about Audrey Bidwell. _Cheerleader_ Audrey Bidwell. _Ex-girlfriend_ Audrey Bidwell.

Damn it. So much for not thinking about her.

And seems like the whole world is never letting him forget, because Pete Maguire, Don's best friend rushes up to him in the halls with a knowing look on his face.

"So, who are you going to prom with?" he asks Don on their way to the cafeteria.

"Um, I don't know," Don scratches the back of his head uncomfortably.

"You don't know?" Pete repeats in disbelief. "Dude, prom is six weeks away, you've got to decide soon!"

"Are you hearing yourself?" Don retorts, getting in line for the food. "You're going insane, it's no big deal!"

"Are you hearing yourself?" Pete replies, clearly not letting this go. "C'mon man, it's been three weeks since you and Audrey-"

"Can you please not remind me about that?" Don was getting quite annoyed of this topic. He's already moved on. "And for the record she dumped me. I'm sure she's far happier with that Michael jerk."

"Michael Williams is a basketball star. Have you seen him play?"

"You're not helping."

"Sorry, man. But I mean what I said, that you should move on. Having your girlfriend publicly humiliate you by breaking up with you in front of the whole school shouldn't bring you down."

Don scoffs and shakes his head as he grabs some food onto his tray. "Jeez. Thanks for your advice."

"Well, all I'm saying is that your moping around is going to cost you your popularity." Pete continues, following Don to their table where the rest of the football players and cheerleaders sit. "If you don't man up now, your reputation will hit rock bottom, and then you're not going to win prom king!"

"And that's important because...?"

"You need to find someone new." Pete announces, clearly disregarding what Don just said.

"Fine." Don finally gives in, partially to shut Pete up, and partially to see where this bet leads him. "I'll find someone new. There are plenty of Audreys in the sea."

Pete laughs haughtily. "You sure about that?"

Don nods confidently, feeling adventurous. He's ready to move on now, he's sure.

"Alright. I challenge you to turn any girl in our grade into prom queen. In six weeks."

"Any girl?"

"Yep." Pete grins slyly.

"And if not?"

"If you don't, then you owe me. . . one-hundred dollars."

"One hundred? And if I do, then you owe me."

"Yeah, yeah."

"You're totally on, man. Deal." he seals it with a handshake.

Don smirks to himself as Pete tells the table about their plan, knowing that he's totally got this in the bag. Although his reputation may have dropped down a few notches after the breakup, he's still the quarterback and one of the most popular guys in school.

"Guys, in six weeks get ready for the biggest party this school has ever seen, drinks on me." Pete announces down the table, which erupts with cheers.

"I wouldn't be too sure." Don says with a boastful grin.

"Oh you wouldn't?" Pete challenges. "Well then I can't wait to see you and Lizzie Scott up on that stage accepting those crowns."

The whole table quiets down, a few people oohing.

Don blinks. Lizzie Scott? The geeky, unpopular Lizzie Scott who hangs with Aram Mojtabai, the president of the AV club? She's only in two of his classes and honestly, he's never really noticed her before.

"Ew, the girl who wears flannel shirts and sneakers every day?" Sarah, one of the cheerleaders says bitterly. "She wears glasses and never talks to anyone besides her geek freak friends."

"I don't know, Pete, that sounds near impossible." Don says carefully, starting to question whether this bet was a good idea.

"Exactly. Which is why you better be prepared to cough up one-hundred dollars, Ressler."

No, that's not going to happen, Don's going to do this, he's going to prove this to Pete and to everyone, especially to Audrey that he's going to win this bet and he's one-hundred percent over her, that he doesn't need her anymore to keep his reputation up.

Ressler shakes his head. "No, don't count on it, Maguire. I'm going to be prom king, and Lizzie Scott will be my prom queen."

...

The next day Don decides he's going to talk to Lizzie.

"So, what are you going to say to her?" Pete asks, following Don to his calculus class which he shares with Lizzie. "'Hey, I've never noticed you before but you're sort of cute so will you please be my girlfriend?'"

Don ignores this and walks straight into calculus, earlier than he's ever been before.

There's no way out of it now. Don Ressler must ask Lizzie Scott out to prom, and that's that.

And there, sitting in the front row in all her nerdy glory, hipster glasses and all, is Lizzie Scott.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks again to everyone who read the first chapter; it really means a lot to me! Hope you like this one!**

...

Don feels like an idiot, standing in the doorway, staring at her, which will definitely come off as being creepy.

But honestly, he doesn't have a clue on what to say.

Mr. Reddington, his calculus teacher, gives him a suspicious look but doesn't say anything as he passes by him with an armful of textbooks.

"Um, Mr. Reddington, I-I came in early today to catch up on my homework." he says, clearly unconvincingly as his teacher watches him with narrowed eyes.

Mr. Reddington shrugs as he sits down at his desk in the front, but still glances up at him skeptically. "That's a surprise. You're never this early."

"Yeah, well, I want to bump up my marks." Don says louder, so maybe Lizzie could see what a 'studious person' he is.

(And to be honest, he really does need help in calculus. His average is a sixty-nine percent. When he signed up for AP calculus last year, he was doing well but now he feels like he's slacking.)

He walks into the classroom, hoping that Lizzie would look up, but to his dismay she doesn't, just keeps on working on whatever she's working on.

He chooses to sit in the seat to her left where nobody ever sits, mostly because nobody likes to be in the front row besides Lizzie.

He clears his throat awkwardly. She doesn't even look up from her papers.

Shoot. This is going to be harder than he thought.

Do you want to claim that one hundred dollars that is rightfully yours and the respect of the entire school? Don thinks to himself. Just talk to her.

"Um, excuse me?" his voice comes out coarser than he wanted it to. "You're Lizzie Scott, right?"

Finally she looks up, and he notices she's been wearing earbuds.

"Sorry, what was that?" Lizzie quickly takes them off apologetically. "Sometimes I get so plugged in I become oblivious to everyone else around me."

"Oh." Don laughs uncomfortably. "I was just making sure you were Lizzie Scott. I was told you're awesome at calculus stuff and I'm not, so I was wondering if you could help me."

At first she frowns, eyeing him carefully from behind her glasses. Then her face brightens up. "That's no problem. I could totally help you with that. What are you struggling with?"

"Well, um, this here," Don says as he scrambles to get his notebook out of his bag, immensely relieved that Lizzie Scott will actually talk to him. "The theorems, I don't get it." He points to one of the notes they took a few weeks ago.

Lizzie moves closer to his desk, her face etched in concentration.

In that moment, Don remarked that Lizzie was actually quite pretty. She certainly wasn't in everyone's faces about it like the cheerleaders are; she's more of a subtle beauty. Maybe he never noticed her before or maybe he was too caught up in Audrey to even care, but Lizzie Scott was an attractive girl, and those glasses made her look dorkily sweet.

_Audrey_. Damn it, he really needs to stop thinking about her.

"Well, from what I can tell from your notes, you seem to understand the concept, you just don't know how to apply it." Lizzie says suddenly, jolting Don out of his reverie. "I can help you with understanding the theorems better if you want. Maybe at break tomorrow? I've got a meeting with the academic decathlon team today."

"Break, yeah, that would be perfect." Don says, grinning. Things were definitely working out for him.

Lizzie smiles back as she goes back to her desk as more people file into the classroom.

"I'm Don, by the way. Don Ressler." Don says, extending his hand.

She shakes it, blushing a bit. "Yeah, I know who you are. Everyone knows the quarterback. I'm Lizzie Scott. Nice to actually get to meet you, Don."

Don flashes a brief smile to her as Mr. Reddington shuts the door and demands that everyone take out their textbooks.

He's glad she doesn't mention Audrey like most people would.

During the whole class, Don catches himself sneaking glances at Lizzie, who doesn't seem to notice as she keenly pays attention to whatever Mr. Reddington is droning on about.

He thinks that this bet might actually be worth doing after all.

...

Don walks into the cafeteria the next day with his calculus books, looking around the crowded room for Lizzie.

He finally spots her sitting with another boy at a lone table by the corner, and she waves him over.

After he pays for his lunch, he walks past the table where he usually sits with Pete and the others, and makes a beeline for Lizzie's table.

"Hey man, you're not going to come sit with us?" Pete asks, catching up to him.

"Nah, not today." Don says, smirking. "I have a girl to meet."

He walks over to Lizzie and the other boy, leaving Pete standing back at their table with a puzzled expression.

"Hey." Don greets, sitting across from Lizzie.

Several people stare at them, finding it unusual that the most popular guy in school is sitting with the most unpopular girl in school.

"Hi." Lizzie says quietly. Then she glances around. "Everybody's looking at us."

Don glances around, and the onlookers quickly turn away. "Don't worry about it. They're probably still laughing about the incident three weeks ago."

It isn't completely false, but he still feels bad about half-lying to her.

"Oh yeah, I saw that. Audrey, that girl's something." the dark-haired boy sitting next to Lizzie finally speaks up. He wears a knitted navy blue sweater with the sleeves rolled up, and looks arguably geekier than Lizzie. "Sorry that had to happen."

"Yeah well, it's okay. Don't worry about it. Audrey and I, um, we're done now." Don quickly diverts his eyes to the ground.

"Lizzie, why is Don Ressler sitting with us?" he hears the boy whisper to Lizzie.

"Oh, yeah, Don, this is Aram." Lizzie says quickly, motioning to the awkward boy. "Aram, this is Don. I'm going to help him with his homework."

Aram watches Don nervously. "You're not going to shove me into a locker later, will you?"

"What? No."

"Oh. Okay. Good, I'm gonna, um, I'm gonna go now, AV club meeting." Aram awkwardly gets up and scurries out of the room.

Lizzie laughs uncomfortably. "Aram can be quite scatterbrained sometimes. But it isn't easy for him. He's intimidated by everyone on the football team. He's a good friend though."

Don shrugs it off, feeling a bit guilty after knowing that his friends have that kind of an effect on some people.

"So, um, where are your calculus notes? We can get started if you want." Lizzie says pushing her unfinished lunch to the side."

"Oh, yeah." Don takes them out of his bag.

They work for the better half of their lunch period, Lizzie explaining the concepts carefully and descriptively.

By the end of the hour, Don has a better understanding of calculus than he ever had before.

"Thank you." he says as they pack up their stuff.

"Oh don't mention it." Lizzie says, fixing her glasses which were sliding off her nose.

_Time to make a bigger move, Ressler_, he tells himself. _You only have six weeks. _

"Hey, do you want to go see a movie together?" he asks her just before she leaves.

"Um, well, I, um, I like you, Don. You're nice." Lizzie stammers nervously. "But these social events aren't really my thing. I don't like being in crowded places, that's why I don't go to malls."

"Oh, it'll be fine, it'll just be us and a few friends-"

"No, I-I'd rather not, thank you though." she says quickly and with that, she disappears past the doors of the hallway, leaving him sitting alone in a near-empty cafeteria just as the bell rings.

Getting her to like him back is going to be harder than he thought.

...


	3. Chapter 3

...

In Don's opinion, the bet wasn't going as well as he hoped at this point, mostly because Lizzie Scott practically avoids him now, but he still has five weeks, which is a decent amount of time. As stupid as the bet is, Don _did_ want that hundred-dollars so he could prove Pete wrong. He wasn't as bitter over the breakup as he was a week ago, but Audrey had clearly moved on. Her and Michael seemed to be shoving their relationship in everyone's faces (they would make out in front of the entire cafeteria every day at lunch), and to be honest, that bothered Don.

Plus Michael is a total self-obsessed tool (he's caught the guy staring at his reflection in the change rooms), and Don's not afraid to admit that.

All the more reason to win this bet.

"So, have you talked to Lizzie yet?" Pete asks him after football practice one Monday afternoon.

Don shakes his head. "She's been avoiding me for some reason."

"_Avoiding you_?" Pete rubs his hands together with a mischievous smile. "Man, I can't wait until prom day and see how badly you've screwed up."

Don ignores this. But he knows Pete's right; he really needs to step it up a notch.

Then he has an idea. "Hey Pete, tell me again where Lizzie works."

"What are you, stalking her now?"

"Shut up. Come on, just tell me. You've mentioned it before, I know you know. This bet is supposed to fair, alright? You can't always be having the upper hand."

"Fine. You know Sarah's family friend owns that Chinese restaurant, Wing Yee's or whatever, Lizzie works there on Mondays and Thursdays after school, to help pay for her scholarship or something."

Wing Yee's? Don's been there a few times before with his parents, and he's never noticed her before (the food's mediocre, that's why they order takeout every now and then). She probably just got a job there.

"Thank you, Pete." Don says, playfully slapping Pete on the shoulder then sprinting out of the school.

"Hey, don't think that this puts you any further ahead in the race, Ressler!" Pete calls after him, but he's already gone.

...

He arrives at Wing Yee's exactly two minutes after Lizzie Scott begins her shift.

Don immediately spots Aram sitting by the back counter and waves at him. If he needs Lizzie Scott on his side, he's gonna need her friends too.

"Hey Aram!" he says enthusiastically, offering him a high-five which Aram awkwardly returns.

"Hey, D-Don, what are you doing here?" Aram says, trying to act casual but fails as he almost falls off his stool.

"Um, I came to see Lizzie, actually." he says, shoving his hands into his pockets.

Lizzie, who coincidentally walked out at that moment, freezes and walks backwards into the kitchen.

"Wait!" Don calls, following her as she steps back out with a mop.

"Hey, can't I at least talk to you? You've been avoiding me ever since last Tuesday when you helped me with my calculus!"

At that moment, she whirls around, letting the mop fall to the floor with a loud _clang. _

_"_Well maybe I don't want to _talk_!" Lizzie snaps. "Maybe I don't appreciate you following me around like a stalker! What is your deal with me, anyways! You're the most popular guy in school, why would you even bother talking to someone like me?"

She picks her mop back up and continues to clean the floor, but Don doesn't let it stop there.

"I just want to talk."

"Why, all of a sudden? Why now?" Lizzie asks, setting her mop aside and starts to collect menus from the tables. "I've tutored you before, you know your stuff now, seems that you shouldn't need anything more from me."

_Shoot_, Don thought. _Maybe she's catching on_. _She's a smart girl._

He can't let that happen.

"I just want to hang out with you, that's all." Don says, following her to the front of the restaurant. "You're cool."

Lizzie scoffs. "Since when was I 'cool'?"

"Hey, listen, I'll make it up to you." Don says, gently grabbing Lizzie's arm. She finally stops moving around, and looks up at him.

He finally has the chance to actually _look_ at her, and she's wearing a black skirt and a collared white shirt with a silly print tie, which is customary for all the waiters to wear, and in his opinion it actually makes her look adorable.

"We should go somewhere." he says firmly. "Together."

Her eyes widen. "Together?"

"Yeah. Except we should go somewhere that _you_ want to go."

She laughs in disbelief and puts her hand on her hip. "Somewhere _I _want to go?"

"Yeah!" Don says, patting her on the shoulder. "Anywhere that you want."

Lizzie glances over to Aram, who is still sitting on the bar stool. He gives her a thumbs-up, nodding encouragingly.

"Alright." she crosses her arms over her chest. "But there's really no place that we could go-"

"Yeah, there is." Aram interrupts, hopping off the stool and walking towards Don, two tickets in his hand. "Two tickets to see The Front perform tonight at eight."

Lizzie raises her eyebrows. "But Aram, I thought that you really wanted that ticket-"

"Which is now yours. Besides," Aram says, handing one ticket over to Don and the other to Lizzie. "I don't nearly love The Front as much as she does."

"Wow, are you sure?" Don says, looking at Aram. He nods confidently. "Thanks, Aram."

Aram's head whips back to Don, and he's back to his timid-around-Don self. "Oh, y-you're welcome. There's really no need."

Don grins, looking back to Lizzie. "What do you say?"

She nods carefully. "Sure. But my shift-"

"Don't worry. I'll pick you up at seven thirty."

Lizzie smiles a bit. "Thanks, Don."

She walks back to the kitchen, fiercely mouthing something to Aram, who puts his arms up in defeat.

Don chuckles to himself. He has no clue what or who The Front even is, but at least he's finally got Lizzie to go somewhere with him.

...

Turns out The Front is a band, but not some heavy metal one; it's basically an orchestra ("They formed in 1998," Lizzie had excitedly informed him on the drive to the theater. "It consists of like twenty people and they perform all these original instrumental pop songs together.").

Clearly Don has never heard of them before.

Lizzie's a major fan of them (turns out she was listening to one of their songs when Don first met her. She's definitely a bigger music geek than he thought.) and this is her fifth time seeing them live. Aram gets dragged along each time mostly because her dad doesn't let her go alone and nobody else wants to come with her.

Lizzie was getting quite beside herself as the lights in the theater started to dim and the curtain rose. They were sitting in the front row and some of the lights were blinding Don (he clearly doesn't fit in here; most of the audience is made up of hardcore fans, like Lizzie, and music freaks like the ones he sees at school). As for Lizzie, she was having the time of her life and he's never seen her this excited or talkative before.

The Front seemed to be a decent band in Don's opinion, minus the strange multi-colored tye-dyed shirts they were all wearing. The music was good as well and the audience was very much engaged in their performance.

But in their final song, they had randomly picked out a seat number and of course, it was Don's.

He really didn't want to go, but Lizzie was urging him to and he didn't want to spoil her night, so he did.

He was asked to play a solo in their final song by playing any instrument he wanted, and since Don didn't have much of a choice not to, he chose the guitar, mostly because he used to play in high school and it was the only instrument he knew how to play.

Don tried to follow along as well as he could but he failed.

Miserably.

Mostly because he could never play the correct chord at the correct time and it was a song he's never heard before. The other band members tried to keep up with his pace, but he messed up so badly even the band couldn't find a harmony to go along with it.

The audience could clearly tell because they were awkwardly glancing around, so he focused on Lizzie, who was giving him a skeptical look.

He really hoped that there was no one from school in that audience.

Once it was over, he was pretty damn glad, and briefly thanked the band members as he made it back down to his seat as they wrapped it up.

"What you did onstage. . ." Lizzie says on their walk back to the car. "That was. . ."

"Horrible?"

"No. . . it was. . . _interesting_. I didn't know what to expect."

"Well I'm glad you had fun."

"No, Don. Thanks for coming with me. And doing that. I appreciate it."

They had walked about a block from the theater to the parking lot, and Don had decided it was time to make a move.

_After all of _that_. _

"Wait, Lizzie. . ." he takes her hand and gently turns her around to face him.

She looks up at him, her blue eyes wide and alert. "What is it, Don?"

"Your eyes are. . . _pretty_."

They stand there for a few seconds in the middle of the sidewalk as passers-by walk past them, Lizzie's gaze suddenly becoming piercingly cold.

"Your eyes are pretty. _Really_? That's what you got?" Lizzie brushes his hand away and walks in the other direction. "Unbelievable."

"What's wrong with that?" Don calls after her.

"This is my fault. You've got to know something's up when the quarterback of the football team starts saying all this stuff-"

"Lizzie-"

"I shouldn't have come here with you. I'll take a taxi home." Lizzie says, turning back to him and even in the dim lighting he can tell her eyes are blazing with something he's never seen before.

He watches her walk even farther away until she's completely disappeared from sight.

Don sighs. He's not even one hundred percent certain of what he did wrong, but he knows one thing.

He's not giving up that easily. Next time he'll get it right, he's sure of it.

...

**A/N: Not overly impressed with this chapter but hope you liked it. Anyways I received a suggestion in the reviews that I add Tom Keen in to the mix, and I just wanted to say that I plan to do that very soon! He will certainly make an appearance within the next few chapters. I appreciate that you've all enjoyed this story, and I hope to update again this weekend!**


	4. Chapter 4

...

Don walks in to the school Friday morning, praying that nobody saw his performance with The Front yesterday night and that it wasn't posted online.

Fortunately nobody seems to know or care because everyone continues to grin at him or give him the occasional high-five, so Don lets himself relax.

Until Tom Keen walks around the corner.

_Crap. _

Don's hated Tom Keen ever since sophomore year. He goes out of his way to make Don's life a living hell. Tom was his best friend in junior high and freshman year, but as sophomore year progressed and Don started to become popular, it seemed that Tom was trying to top Don in just about everything; grades, girls, and especially football, and he did in everything _but_ football. He and Tom became rivals after Don was chosen over Tom to be the quarterback last year. Tom still got a good position (he's the linebacker) but he never shows up to the practices anymore after he was elected class president (another one-up for Tom. He's now just as popular as Don, even Pete worships him). Don does his best to avoid him, but he's in some of his classes. His parents are filthy rich and it seems he goes on vacation every few months. For his eighteenth birthday they did a tour around Europe which is why Don hasn't seen him since March.

Two amazing Tom-less months he will never get back.

Unfortunately it looks like he's back for the rest of the year, even for prom.

_Damn it. _

"Oh hey, Don." Tom says coldly, glaring at Don's letterman jacket even though he wears the exact same one.

"Hey, Tom." Don says, even more coldly. "How was Europe?"

"Good." Tom barely reacts. "I recently heard of your bet with Pete Maguire."

"Of course you did," Don mutters, but Tom pointedly ignores this.

"As the class president and an advocate for the student council, I would normally try to intervene," Tom continues, fixing his neat brown hair which is already coiffed to perfection. "But this time, I say go for it."

Don blinks.

"It's true. I'd like to see how this plays out." Tom grins, but not warmly.

Don isn't having any of it. "What's your angle, Keen?"

"_Angle_?" Tom laughs so irritably it makes Don's blood boil. "There's no angle to this, Ressler. You've never considered that maybe I want to have a little fun?"

Don doesn't answer, so Tom shrugs and nonchalantly walks off. Whatever Tom's true motives are, they're certainly not going to be good. He doesn't want Lizzie involved with Tom and his scheming.

"Hey, Keen!" Don yells after Tom, who has almost reached the end of the hallway. "Stay out of this one."

"Whatever you say, Ressler." Tom hollers back, walking down the stairs.

Don just shakes his head and heads to class.

...

The next day is a Saturday, which is perfect for Don because today he plans to take Lizzie out to the beach.

He pulls up by her house (he got Aram to tell him the address. It's pretty easy to get anything out of Aram, it seems), and spots _Mr_. _Reddington_ out of all people chatting with who he assumes is Lizzie's father on the driveway.

"Morning, Mr. Reddington, Mr. Scott," Don says courteously as awkward as the situation was.

"Donald." Mr. Reddington nods curtly.

Don stifles a groan. He hates it when people call him by his full name (what would motivate his parents to name him _Donald_?).

"Donald?" repeats Mr. Scott, looking at Don up and down. "Are you the boy who's been persistently pursuing my Lizzie? You know there's a word for that, son, it's called harrass-"

"Um y-yes, I mean no sir," Don interrupts quickly. He certainly doesn't want he father to get a bad first impression of him. "I'm not trying to offend your daughter, um, I like her and I want to get to know her better."

Mr. Scott nods, clearly not convinced. "She's inside."

"Thank you, sir." Don mumbles, walking onto the porch.

"I could have sworn, Sam, that I heard a rumour that Donald and-" Don hears Mr. Reddington begin, and his heart starts to race, but fortunately Mr. Scott cuts him off.

"Raymond, what in the hell happened to your car?" he exclaims, having leaned against Mr. Reddington's car and spotting a large dent, and Don is briefly

grateful for the fact that Mr. Scott gets easily distracted. "I work at the shop dealing with cars six days a week, you think I wouldn't notice something like that? How did it happen?"

"Oh, Sam, you wouldn't _believe_ what happened to this thing on the way to work yesterday." he hears Mr. Reddington respond, apparently dropping the subject as fast as Mr. Scott did. "There was this blue Prius. . ."

Just then, the front door swings open and a furious Lizzie is standing in front of Don with her face etched into a frown, her glasses lopsided and brown hair tied up into a messy ponytail.

"You know, I can press charges-"

"Please don't. I got the address from Aram, okay? All I want to get to know you better, that's all."

"You can't keep showing up wherever I am anymore, it's already strange that my calculus teacher is close friends with my dad, don't make this any weirder-"

"And you can't keep avoiding me. Like Thursday night, what was that?"

"You're asking _me_ what that was? Looks like _you_ were trying to-"

"Do you want to go to the beach with me?"

"What?"

"I'm trying to cut to the chase here." Don explains as Lizzie steps onto the porch and shuts the door. "Do you want to go to the beach with me?"

Lizzie blinks. "No, not really."

"Great. Grab your swimsuit and let's go."

"What? No!"

At that moment her phone rings in her pocket and she steps aside to take it.

"Aram!" Lizzie glowers into her phone, apparently to Aram. "I swear, if you've given my address to anyone else, I will - _yeah_, he's here, he wants me to go to the beach with him." She takes time to glance at Don, who just puts his hands in his pockets. "What? You're saying I should _go _with him? Aram Mojtabai, don't you dare-"

Don hears the phone line click dead, indicating that Aram has hung up. Lizzie turns back around to face Don, her mouth a thin line.

"Okay, fine. If this will shut you up-"

"It will."

"-I'll come to the beach with you."

"Alright, that's great!"

Lizzie looks at Don for a second more, and with a frustrated huff she walks back into the house, then appearing minutes later dressed with all her stuff.

_This may actually work out_.

...

"So, you've never been to the beach before?"

Don and Lizzie were setting up at Don's usual spot where he'd come with Audrey and Pete and the others. Most days the area was packed with people swimming and sunbathing but today it was unusually unpopulated even though the weather was beautiful.

"Um, yeah, no I mean I've been here a few times with my mom when I was like really young. I can't remember it though."

"Oh."

"She, um, she died six years ago." Lizzie says softly, seeming to have read his mind.

"Lizzie, I'm sorry-"

"It's fine." she puts a hand up to stop him. "I've already grieved. Both me and my dad took it pretty hard, but we're doing our best to get by now, you know."

Don nods, looking down at the ground. He didn't know how bad Lizzie had it; he always figured she was just the dorky girl in his calculus and geography classes.

"Well today, just let yourself go. You should smile."

"I do smile!"

"Yeah, but not enough. You're at the beach, have some fun! Oh, come on now, don't tell me you don't like the beach!"

"I never said that!" she defends herself, although she's grinning.

"Alright, but-"

"Hey, Ressler!" a loud voice calls out, interrupting their conversation.

Don looks up at the stairs leading down to the shore and he sees Pete and the others walking down to them, holding towels and umbrellas and volleyballs.

"Alright, if you and I are gonna be friends, you've got to deal with line at least once." he tells Lizzie, who stares at them like they're aliens from another planet.

_This was supposed to be_ our _day_, he thinks, a little miffed that his friends had decided to join him _today_ out of all days.

"Hey man, what's up!" Pete sets down his stuff next to Don's and gives him a high-five. "We called your house, they said you were here so we figured we might as well crash your date!"

Lizzie's face turns red, and Don quickly says, "It's not a date."

"Whatever, Mr. I'm-Totally-In-Love." Pete laughs and helps the others set up.

Don shakes his head as Lizzie tries to hide behind him.

Then he sees Tom, who is walking straight towards him.

_Damn him. _

But to Don's complete surprise Tom walks right past him and faces Lizzie.

"Hey. You're Lizzie, right?" Tom says, sounding sickly sweet.

"Um, yeah." Lizzie was clearly unsure of what was happening as well.

"I'm Tom." he grins, shaking her hand.

Lizzie smiles a bit, and for some reason this enrages Don (but he's _not _jealous). "I know. Nice to meet you, Tom."

Don notices that Tom's look lingers a little bit too long on Lizzie, but fortunately Pete yells out, "Who's up for some volleyball?" and the moment is over.

Don walks over to where Pete is setting up the net, still keeping an eye on Tom.

At that moment Lizzie takes off her sundress, and Don has to admit, Lizzie Scott looks pretty damn good in a swimsuit.

"Wow." Pete adds, clearly noticing Don staring. "Who knew what she was hiding under all of those flannel shirts."

All Don could do was nod.

Meanwhile Lizzie had taken out a book and was attempting read while lying down on her towel.

"So." Samar Navabi, one of Don's friends who plays basketball says as she sets up her chair next to Lizzie. "Don's clearly over Audrey."

Lizzie looks up. "Hm? Oh, I don't know, I guess."

"You guys dating? Sure seems like it."

"What? No, we're. . ." Lizzie stammers.

"Just friends?" Sarah, who was suntanning nearby, finishes.

"Yeah. I guess you could say that." Lizzie didn't really know what else to say.

"Audrey and Michael are clearly more than friends." Sarah states, giving a knowing look to Samar. "I'd prefer coming here than going around everywhere with Audrey and her boy toy."

"Yeah." Samar agrees. "She certainly doesn't need us twenty-four seven anymore."

"Hey." Pete runs up to them. "You girls want to play some volleyball? Although my team's gonna win, it would be fun to see you guys try."

"No way. I've only been tanning for five minutes." Sarah says, fixing her shades.

Samar shook her head. "Me neither."

Pete turns to Lizzie. "How about you, Lizzie?"

Lizzie, who by then was feeling a little excluded in the conversation, shrugs. "Um. . . sure, I guess so."

Sarah scoffs. "I don't think you should. I've seen you in gym class."

"Oh, is that so?" Lizzie arches an eyebrow, standing up and taking off her glasses. "Maybe you should watch me now."

Samar gets up as well. "You know, maybe I will join in. Come on, Lizzie."

Pete grins and they all walk over to the net, leaving a horrified Sarah alone under the umbrella.

A few other girls and boys join in, and soon the game becomes full-out war between the two teams.

Don observes that Lizzie clearly isn't all too well-versed in volleyball, so he does his best to improve her volleys, and by the end of the third game, Lizzie has improved immensely.

Her team won almost all of the games.

Tom, who was on Pete's team, was getting quite annoyed of Don and Lizzie's team's constant victories, and Don noticed that each time he celebrated with Lizzie, the angrier Tom got.

They played for almost the whole afternoon and it wasn't until Pete's team had actually won that they decided to stop playing and pack up.

"See, that wasn't too bad. Not all my friends are complete jerks." Don says to Lizzie, as they walk up the stairs to the parking lot.

Lizzie laughs a bit. "I guess so."

"Great game, Lizzie." Pete says, as he passes by with Tom. "You guys coming tonight to the party?"

"Pete's house is gigantic. His dad owns a construction company." Tom explains, and to Don's annoyance, winks at her.

Pete laughs. "Like you have it any worse, Keen."

"I don't know," Lizzie says, glancing up at Don. "Sure, I guess."

"Great, see you guys there." Pete exclaims before catching up to Samar, Sarah and their other football buddies.

"Oh, but be careful." Tom advises, mostly to Lizzie. "Audrey'll probably be there. Even if she's with Michael, she'll freak out if she sees you two. Maybe even tear you apart."

Don clenches his fists, but Tom just smirks and walks away.

"Ignore what he just said, don't worry about it." he tells Lizzie, who looks petrified, her eyes wide behind her glasses. "You should come."

Lizzie shakes her head. "I can't, the house is like extremely dirty and my dad's working late."

"But earlier, you said that-"

"I just remembered now. Sorry, Don." she says, trying to sound apologetic.

"Don!" he hears Pete call from up ahead.

"Hold on a sec," he tells Lizzie, and runs up to Pete. "What is it?"

Pete waits for Tom, Samar and Sarah to walk farther away from earshot so only Don can hear him.

Then he says, "Tom wants in on the bet."

...

**A/N: This was a really long chapter, so thank you if you managed to read the entire thing! I may post another multi-chapter fanfic soon, but I won't abandon this one, don't worry! Expect another update within a few days again!**


	5. Chapter 5

...

"What?" Don was furious. The way Tom acted towards Lizzie, it all makes sense now, _that_ was his angle. "No freakin' way man! You know how much I hate him!"

"Wait. Calm down a sec." Pete says quietly. "He offered to triple it and make it six-hundred bucks. Except if I win this thing, I get three-hundred and he gets the other three-hundred.

That makes Don even angrier. "For what? It's just a dumb bet! All he wants to do is see me make a fool out of myself! That's not happening."

"But _dude_, it's six-hundred dollars." Pete repeats. "You'd be lying if you said you were to really pass up on that."

"I can't, not with Lizzie." Don means it. As appealing as it sounds, he can't risk it with Tom Keen and end up hurting Lizzie.

"Oh, don't tell me you've fallen in love with the girl already!" Pete says, grinning crookedly. "It's certainly not just a bet to you!"

"Shut up." Don says defensively, although he doesn't completely mean it. "Just tell Keen that a deal is a deal and that he's too late. If he wanted to be a part of this then he should have joined when we first made the bet."

Pete puts his hands up in defeat. "Okay, okay, if it means that much to you, I'll tell him. I still want to come out of this bet as friends with you, but I'm wondering, what do you have against Tom?"

Don sighs. "It's a long story."

"Whatever, man. I gotta run and get the house ready. See you tonight." Pete says before running off to his car.

Just then Lizzie catches up. "What was that about?"

"What? Oh, nothing. Pete wanted to know for sure if you're coming tonight." Don felt a bit bad lying to her, but he couldn't tell her now.

She bites her lip. "I can't, like I said. I've got cleaning to do. I've got to pick up some groceries on my way back so don't bother driving me."

"Alright, if you're sure. See you Monday, then." Don says, watching her walk off with that gigantic beach bag.

To be honest, he really does want her there with him, and not just because of the bet. Don may not be willing to completely admit to it yet, but he likes being with her.

But how can he get her to go?

Then suddenly he has an idea.

A really great idea. But he's gonna need some help.

"Samar!" Don calls just as she is about to get into her car. "Samar, wait!"

He runs up to her, and breathlessly says, "I need your help with something."

Samar looks at him with a puzzled expression. "With what?"

"Something that I personally don't know how to deal with. Like makeup, that kind of stuff."

She raises her eyebrows. "Why?"

Don sighs. "I'm going to need you to give someone a makeover. You're really good at that kind of stuff, you put it on every day. I'll even pay you!"

Samar purses her lips. "A _makeover_? Well. . . I'm a sucker for that kind of thing. I'm in, just let me grab my stuff from home, don't bother paying me. But don't you dare tell anyone on the team, or I will personally see to your-"

"Thank you, but we have to go now!" Don swiftly cuts her off as he runs back to his own car. "And is your brother playing soccer today?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Pick him and his whole team up, or as many as you can get on the way. Follow me."

He pulls out and drives to Lizzie's house, Samar right behind him.

His plan is working out perfectly.

...

"Don't tell me you turned it down. Didn't you always tell me that you've always wanted to go to a real teen party?" Aram says over the phone as Lizzie was cleaning the kitchen table. She had just returned home with all her groceries and was planning on reading the next chapter of her book after putting away the groceries and cleaning the kitchen, forget the stupid party. Clearly with Aram on the phone, that wasn't going to happen tonight.

"And Ellie's bowling party from last year doesn't count." Aram slickly cuts her off. "She was going to make us paint _pottery_ but fortunately that place was closed that day."

Lizzie pouts, putting the bread away. "But that was actually fun!"

"Maybe Don really likes you!" Aram suggests, and Lizzie just rolls her eyes.

"I know _that_ isn't true."

"You should have fun, Lizzie! And give him a chance. By the way, if you do go by any chance and you bump into Samar Navabi, tell her I said h-"

At that moment the doorbell rings, and Lizzie swiftly cuts him off.

"I gotta go, talk to you later." she says as she opens up the door.

It's Don.

"Didn't I tell you I was busy?"

"Yeah, you did." Don says, stepping in author waiting for an invitation. "So I figured I would help you with that."

"What-"

At that moment half of the soccer team enters Lizzie's house with mops and other various cleaning objects, splitting up to equally clean the different parts of the house.

"Uh, Don. . .?" Lizzie was incredibly skeptical. "This is the soccer team-"

"_JV_." Don corrects, leaning by the door. "Don't worry, they'll be finished before your dad comes back. Come on, you're not busy now, go get dressed."

Lizzie glances at what Don is wearing, then back at her. "I'm in no state to go to a party. I don't even have anything good enough to wear!"

"I got that covered." Don steps aside to let Samar in, who is holding a dress and a gigantic makeup bag. "Hopefully you like the color maroon, because this is one of the only dresses I own."

"Hi again. Please don't mention any of this to anyone." Samar says, although it's clear she's very excited. She tilts her head to the side as she briefly analyzes Lizzie's face. "Have you ever considered losing the glasses?"

Lizzie blinks, and Don tries to imagine her face without those signature hipster glasses. He's never really thought of it before, but maybe Lizzie would look a bit more relaxed if she didn't wear them.

"Um, my eyes suck and I can't see without them. I hate contacts, my eyes practically reject them-" she says, taking them off and looking at them before putting them back on, but isn't given a chance to finish.

"Yeah well, try and tolerate them for one night. Let's go upstairs, we don't have much time." Samar interrupts, practically shoving Lizzie up the stairs.

Don smiles and stands in the hall as the soccer team continues to clean around him.

He waits for a solid fifty minutes, and at one point tries to listen to what they're doing upstairs.

Finally Samar comes down the stairs with a proud smile on her face.

"Don Ressler, let me introduce you to the _new_ Lizzie Scott." she says, glancing up the staircase.

She still doesn't come down.

"Um, Lizzie?" Samar repeats. "You good?"

"Yeah - just - trying to walk - down the stairs - in these heels -" Don hears her voice as she stumbles down the stairs.

Then he sees her. And she's never looked better.

Her brown hair, which used to be long and plain, is now cut shoulder-length. She wears the figure-hugging maroon knee-length dress that Samar brought and is wearing a fair amount of makeup. And now that she isn't wearing glasses he can finally see those sweet blue eyes.

She looks amazing. Samar did a really great job.

Then Lizzie takes that final step down and nearly falls over, but Don moves on to catch her in time.

"I guess my work here is done." Samar says, winking at Lizzie as she makes her way out. "See you guys at the party."

She leaves just as the soccer team finishes up, and soon it is just the two of them.

"So." Don says carefully, offering his hand it to Lizzie. "Ready to go?" He doesn't want her to change her mind again.

To his relief, Lizzie takes it, her eyes twinkling, and he swears his heart skips a beat. "Now I am. Let's go."

And so they leave her house together, Don having a feeling that it was going to be a very good night.

...

**A/N: Only two more days until 2x19 airs and I can't wait! This hiatus has felt so long and reading all the other BL fanfics definitely helped! As for this one I promise you that things will pick up the pace in the next chapter! I will try to update again in a few days!**


	6. Chapter 6

...

They arrive at Pete's house in high spirits, Lizzie beaming throughout the whole car ride.

Don, having been at Pete's house countless times, was used to seeing the gigantic, modern penthouse that belonged to the Maguire family, so he parked on the street without taking a second look at the house.

Lizzie, on the other hand, was not.

"Um, Don, you're sure this is Pete's house, right?" Lizzie's eyes were wide as she looks at the enormous building that was crowded with people.

Don laughs. "Yeah, Lizzie, I'm pretty sure."

He gets out first and holds the car door open for Lizzie to step out. She thanks him graciously with a brief smile.

"Haven't you seen the main building his dad owns downtown?" Don asks, walking with Lizzie past the fountain and into the house. "His dad even built this place. Maguire Construction? Does it ring a bell?"

She shakes her head. "I don't go downtown much."

"Oh. Well, in summary, Pete and his family are pretty freaking rich."

"I can tell."

They walk further into the house, past the main doors where groups of people are chatting animatedly and as they pass further through the house, the louder the music becomes and the more people there are.

Lizzie sticks close to Don's side, being careful not to bump into anyone. A few people are checking her out, noticing her makeover, and Don can't help but feel proud for Lizzie and himself.

It was him who sort of encouraged this makeover, and with this new look, maybe she'll open up more and even win prom queen!

_But this isn't all about that_, Don thinks. _You know Lizzie's more than that to you._

They are about to walk past the giant staircase until someone yells their names.

"Hey, guys!" a loud voice behind them yells over the music being blasted at top volume by the DJ. It's Pete.

"Hey, Pete. How's it going?" Don grins as Pete slaps him on the back. Lizzie pointedly looks away, clearly feeling awkward.

Noticing this, Pete continues enthusiastically, trying make more conversation. "So, welcome to my house! Glad to see that you two could make it!" Pete winks at Don knowingly, and Don quickly looks away, hoping that Lizzie didn't notice. "Man, I love having these parties, they're the best, except when my parents get back and wonder how the hell this mess came to be."

Lizzie carefully looks around. "Um, who are these people?"

Pete glances around him for a second, then looks back at Don and Lizzie, grinning proudly. "I have no idea!"

Behind them something falls over and crashes, and Pete looks behind him. "Damn. Pretty sure that was my mom's favorite vase. I gotta go, have fun tonight, you two!"

He races away, supposedly in the direction of the broken vase, and Don chuckles.

"Classic Pete. Hey, you want anything to drink? Non-alcoholic, of course."

Lizzie smiles, still skeptically glancing around. "Just water would be nice, thanks."

At that moment, Samar appears in front of them.

"Lizzie, I told you you'd look great! Keep the dress though, you look amazing in it." she beams, looking at Lizzie's outfit with pride. "Plus I don't really like dresses all that much."

"Yeah, thanks for doing this." Lizzie says, sounding a little bit more relaxed now that she finds someone else there that she is comfortable with.

"Hey, mind if I steal her for a second?" Samar asks Don. "There's this really cute guy that just moved here, I think he's Sarah's neighbor or something, Lizzie you should meet him."

Lizzie looks at Don, as if for approval, and Don nods. "Of course not."

"Thanks." Samar flashes a quick smile, then grabs Lizzie by the arm, dragging her into the throng of people.

Don stares after her for a bit feeling alone, half-wishing that she would come back and join him even though he's familiar with the crowd, then goes to the kitchen where various people are going through Pete's food cabinets and pours Lizzie a glass of water.

When he gets back to the same spot with her water, she's still not there, so he sets it down on a table nearby and waits. And to his dismay, Tom Keen appears seemingly out of nowhere and puts his hand on Don's shoulder.

"So, _pal_," Tom sneers, and Don does his best to stare straight ahead and ignore him. "You came with Lizzie Scott, did I hear right?"

Don doesn't respond.

"I'll take that as a 'no', then. But you two _did _arrive in the same car, so that means that you _did_ come with her. Then that would be a 'yes', correct?"

Don bites down hard on his tongue. Tom was getting on his last nerve, and Tom knew it. "That would be none of your business."

Tom chuckles. "Too late, my friend. Everyone at this party knows now; seems that the makeover she got opened up the eyes of everybody here, I tell you that girl's not going to be single anymore for long."

Don's head whips around to face Tom, who steps back in mock surprise. "Oh, I'm sorry, were you two dating? It sure doesn't look like it. Oh, wait, that's right, she's _nothing _to you, she's just your _bet _for one-hundred dollars. If you were really that interested in the money, you should have accepted my offer for-"

_That's it_.

"I am so close to punching you in the face right now, Keen." Don snaps, his eyes glaring into Tom's cold ones.

"Go ahead, Ressler. _Punch me_." Tom hisses, standing up close to his face as a small crowd begins to form. "You've always wanted to, especially after I took Gina Zanetakos on a date before you could sophomore year-"

Don is just about to throw his first punch into Tom's face until he notices Lizzie walking from the other side of the room in his direction, and he quickly tries to calm down.

"Go away, Keen." he says, his eyes steely and boring into Tom's.

Tom smirks and puts his arms up in the air, walking away. "I get it, you want alone time with your _bet_\- excuse me, your _girlfriend_. I'll leave you two to it, then."

He leaves just in time as Lizzie finally gets to him after shoving through the crowd.

"Sorry I took so long." she says breathlessly, reaching for the glass of water and downing it in one gulp. "I just helped some girl clean up her puke. It was disgusting. I didn't even know her."

"What happened to that guy you and Samar were talking to?"

"Oh, she still is talking to him, I just found him kind of boring so I left for the washroom and that's where I found the puking girl. That boy was pretty drunk, though, because he was asking all these strange questions, like what color my-"

"Where is he?" Don demands to know, looking around the room.

_If anyone dares do anything to Lizzie he swears he will find them and make sure they-_

"Don, it's fine." Lizzie intercepts quickly, placing a hand on his chest to stop him. "I never let him finish, or do anything else. Hopefully Samar's still not with him now."

She glances around the room for Samar, and at that exact moment, Audrey Bidwell and Michael Williams enter the room.

Don notices this immediately, and quickly grabs Lizzie's hand and takes her up the stairs.

"Um, Don, where are we going?" Lizzie asks puzzledly, looking behind her.

"Sorry, I need to go somewhere quieter, I feel kind of queasy." Don lies, dragging her into a spare room, where they find a couple making out, and he quickly brings her over to another room.

"Uh, do you want food? I can go get you some food." Lizzie offers as Don shuts the door behind them, looking at him with a concerned expression.

"No, no, no. I'm fine, just sort of claustrophobic." Don says easily, because that wasn't a complete lie.

He can't let Lizzie meet Audrey, or things will go wayward very fast and this bet (and his growing relationship with Lizzie) will be destroyed.

"Oh, okay." Lizzie sits down on the queen-sized bed that is positioned in the middle of the room.

"Actually wait a sec, I'm going to go grab a bite to eat, stay here, I don't want to lose you again." Don says, swiftly shutting the door behind him without giving Lizzie a chance to answer. He needs to make sure that Audrey and her stupid idiot boyfriend stay out of this.

He runs down the stairs, and when he reaches the main floor, he bumps directly into Audrey Bidwell.

_Oh no_.

"Donnie, hey," Audrey says all too brightly, one hand perched on her hip, the other holding a designer handbag, and her light brown hair is up in a high ponytail. She is dressed glamorously in a sparkly (and very short) blue dress. "I didn't know you were here. Michael and I just got here."

"Oh, that's nice." he avoids her gaze, trying not to remember the time she dumped him, in which she used the exact same greeting to get his attention.

"Yeah. Did you see him play last night?"

"No, I didn't." He has made a point to not see Michael nor Audrey and he's sticking with it.

"Oh, that's a shame. I can get him so you guys can talk about it if you want." Audrey was doing that thing she always did with him when they were dating when he knew she was up to something, that stupid lip bite.

"No, no, I'm good." Don tries to make his answer clear by giving her a curt smile.

"Well, let's go find him anyways." Audrey sharply grabs Don's arm and brings him outside, where the pool is.

And there's Michael, dancing like a moron, not even on time with the music, by the crowded swimming pool where a couple of girls are standing by, unimpressed.

"_Mikey-Mike_!" Audrey screeches, and Don even has to covers his ears. "Come here and meet Donnie."

_Donnie_. He hates it when she calls him that.

Michael slickly slides over. "Alright, coming, babe."

"Hey hey hey, if it isn't Don the Pawn." Michael says with a slimy grin.

Don blinks. _What did he just call me?_

"Just kidding, Audrey calls you that all the time." Michael stands next to Don, clearly trying to prove the four inches he has on him. "_Just kidding_. So Audrey tells me you want to chat about the game yesterday, huh?"

"Uh, not-"

"Great! It is just so awesome that you like sports too, eh? Like, you're awesome at football, but you're not so good at basketball though, hm?"

Don sighs. He'd really like to go back to Lizzie now. This guy is a complete fool.

Michael continues for five minutes, Audrey smirking (_She's enjoying this. What a horrible person._) as she sits by the side of the pool.

"I got to use the washroom, man. I've had too much fruit punch." Michael slaps Don on the back so hard it actually hurts, then runs back inside.

Audrey gets up, and to Don's complete surprise, puts her arms around him.

He doesn't even shrug them off.

"So, Donnie." she says, smiling sweetly. "Michael may not be able to make it to prom night cause he has this family reunion thing in like Vermont or somewhere, so I was wondering if maybe you and I could go together instead, like we had planned. . .?"

_You're over her, you're over her, that what this whole bet thing is supposed to be about,_ Don continuously reminds himself, even though that smile, no matter how fake it is, is his weakness.

But he doesn't say no.

Suddenly, he hears a familiar voice calling his name.

Lizzie.

_Shoot._

"Don?" she calls out, finally reaching where he stands. With Audrey's arms around him.

This is going to be bad.

Lizzie's smile falters as she notices the unfamiliar girl clinging to him. Don finally pushes her off, noticing Lizzie's expression of fear and hurt.

Audrey turns around, finally noticing Lizzie standing behind them, and her gaze turns to steel.

"Oh, hi there, sweetheart." Audrey says, her tone of voice sounding anything but sweet. "Heard you came with Donnie tonight."

Lizzie swallows, and her gaze flickers to Don, who steps forward. A crowd is forming around them.

"That's a surprise though, because like why are you even here?" Audrey snarls, now standing face to face with Lizzie although she is significantly taller than her.

"I-I was invited."

"You were?" Audrey lets out a fake gasp. "I could have sworn that you've delivered Chinese take-out to us before, does the name Bidwell Residence ring a bell?"

Lizzie shakes her head, clearly intimated. "I, um, I wouldn't remember."

Audrey laughs haughtily, and Don tries to step in but it's too late; Audrey has reached for a glass of fruit punch, and spills it right onto the front of Lizzie's dress. "Oops!"

The music stops immediately and the whole backyard is quiet. Everyone is staring.

"That's a shame." Audrey says, pretending to be apologetic but her intentions are very much the opposite. "It is a really nice dress."

Don feels so badly for Lizzie, he needs to help her now, but he sees Lizzie shaking her head.

"Yeah." she says, looking up at Audrey with not fear this time, but hurt. "It was. Thanks for that."

Audrey is undeterred, because she continues. "Honey, listen. Just because you got a makeover and took off your glasses and dressed up nicer _not _automatically make you one of us. You're nothing but a _loser_. Nothing's gonna change that. You don't belong here and you never will."

The whole yard is so silent you could hear a pin drop. At that moment Don really does regret bringing her here, she's so hurt she's going to hate him forever.

"Yeah, the truth _does_ hurt." Audrey says coldly. "So go home and cry alone, Lizzie. Nobody should see you cry. That would be too _embarrassing_."

Lizzie stands there for a second more, then she sprints back into the house, not even looking back.

Don follows her without a second thought, glaring at Audrey, who just stands there with a satisfied expression on her face.

He runs past everybody who is staring at him. _They probably all heard it too_.

When Don finally catches up to Lizzie, she's breathless and sits down on the curb, sobbing.

He sits down next to her and attempts to put his arm around her, but she brushes him off.

They sit there in silence as the tears subside.

"You know," she says finally, avoiding his gaze. "after all the rumors they make up about me, all the things they say at school, after all the countless times I've been picked on, I've never cried in front of them. _Never_."

Don sighs. "I'm sorry, Lizzie." He means it.

Lizzie shakes her head. "It's not your fault."

"Well, you did have a bit of fun today, right? At the beach?" Don tries to lighten her up.

She nods ever so slightly, even smiling a bit.

"Those people can be so stupid, you shouldn't listen to them."

"I know, but sometimes it just gets to a point that you can't take it so you break down in front of all of them and it's just really bad." Lizzie sighs quietly, and Don pats her back comfortingly.

This time, she lets him.

"Please. I want to go home, Don."

"Okay. Let's go home."

They get into his car and they drive off in silence.

Now Don finally accepts it.

He cares for Lizzie Scott, and he's not afraid to admit it.

...

**A/N: I know this chapter was pretty long and I kind of made Audrey and Tom the bad guys, but I hope you liked it! Please tell me what you think in the reviews of this chapter because I wasn't too sure of how good this one was. Until the next update :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I just want to thank everyone again who reads this story and takes the time to review it! Also any constructive criticism is greatly appreciated; I'd like to know how to improve my writing! Please tell me what you think, particularly about this chapter because I feel like I went a bit all over the place with this one. I am still fairly new to the fanfic writing process and would love some pointers! **

...

"So, was the party really that bad?" Aram asks Lizzie Monday morning as they walk to the cafeteria for lunch.

"Believe me, it was a disaster." Lizzie shudders as she remembers the events from Saturday night. "Audrey Bidwell wants me dead. Promise me you won't go to any of those parties _ever_, Aram."

Aram shakes his head, disheartened. "I promise, because I probably won't ever be invited to a party like that."

Lizzie pats his shoulder sympathetically. "You're not missing out."

Aram nods, unconvinced, but then lightens up and says, "Did you get to talk to Samar Navabi?"

Lizzie nods. "Yeah, and she even gave me a makeover."

She motions to the skinny jeans and colourful top she is wearing.

Aram briefly looks at Lizzie up and down, then nods in approval. "Even being a guy who cares nothing about his appearance, I can tell it wasn't you who picked out your wardrobe today. This is like the first time you haven't worn a flannel shirt on a Monday."

Lizzie elbows him playfully. "Shut up."

"I'm just saying, maybe even Don will notice, if he hasn't already. I mean, you got to admit it to yourself, Lizzie. You've fallen for him."

Lizzie blushes as they enter the cafeteria. "I don't know. He _was_ the only good thing that happened on Saturday."

Aram raises his eyebrows knowingly, but before he can respond, some random guy on the football team grins at Lizzie as walks by with his friends and says "Lizzie, you're awesome."

Both Lizzie and Aram stare after him in surprise, as more and more people greet Lizzie and offer more greetings and high-fives.

"Aram," Lizzie says, feeling awkward all of a sudden. "Why are people being so nice to me?"

Aram looks around with caution. "I'm not quite sure, but I think it has something to do with your new look and Don Ressler."

Just then, a few of the AV club members walk by with a gigantic poster reading _Vote Lizzie Scott For Your 2015 Prom Queen!_

Lizzie freezes. She never wanted to be nominated for Prom Queen!

"Hey guys," Lizzie interrupts, catching up to them. "What exactly are you doing?"

Jenny, a sophomore from the AV club, looks up as she watches the others position the poster on the wall of the cafeteria. "Oh, congratulations, Lizzie! You didn't hear? You've been nominated for prom queen! We always knew it'd be you! We're helping you run your campaign, if you don't mind. We can't let you lose to Audrey Bidwell. You've got our votes!"

Lizzie opens her mouth to protest, but Jenny quickly runs to help the others as the poster starts to peel off the wall and almost falls on someone's head.

She's up against _Audrey_?

_This is going to be bad, _Lizzie thinks_. Really bad. _

Aram walks up to Lizzie, as perplexed as she is.

"Aram," she says slowly, her knees starting to give way. "I can't be prom queen."

"What are you going to do?" Aram asks apprehensively.

Lizzie just shrugs, her face blank. "I don't know. I'm so screwed."

...

Meanwhile Pete was having a field day with all the Lizzie Scott Prom Queen hype.

"Dude, I have to say I'm impressed." he says, following Don out of his classroom. "Your plan actually _worked_, I mean you got Lizzie Scott to be nominated for prom queen, so you're halfway there to beating me."

Don rolls his eyes. "Can you give it a rest, Pete? That's all you've been talking about for the past few days."

"I'm just saying. I think this actually might work for you. This whole bet thing, after all, was for you to get over Audrey, and from what I heard went down between you and Lizzie at my house Saturday night, it's working.

Don can't help but grin. "I don't know, Lizzie didn't seem to enjoy that party all too much. I'm sure you heard about what Audrey did."

"Trust me, I did." Pete shudders. "Didn't know Audrey could be that brutal. You talked to Lizzie about it yet?"

Don shakes his head grimly. "I haven't got a chance yet since Saturday night since I dropped her off. The whole car ride was just. . . _silent_."

Pete laughs good-naturedly. "Man, this girl is making you giddy. I really wasn't expecting that from Don Ressler, tough quarterback and known womanizer."

"Shut up, Pete." Don says, passing a random sophomore who gave him a high-five. "And who are you calling a _womanizer_? Didn't you take out three girls in total last week?"

"And counting. Hell, I even managed to land Sarah on a first date. Can you believe that? _Sarah Collins_! On a freaking _first date_!"

Don scoffs, although he's smiling. He's glad that Pete isn't all too caught up in the bet as he was before.

(Although he'll admit, he does care a little bit about the money.)

"We're going out to that Italian restaurant tonight, that one downtown that just opened a few weeks ago. You want to tag along, be a third-wheeler?" Pete offers as he winks at a group of giggling cheerleaders before they head off to football practice.

Don shakes his head. "I'll pass."

Besides, he's got other plans.

He has a certain someone he wants to ask out to prom.

…

Lizzie had just finished her lunch and was cleaning up in the washroom, planning to head to the academic decathlon meeting when she hears a familiar voice let out a inelegant sob.

_Audrey_.

Lizzie quickly runs into one of the stalls and locks the door, hoping that she doesn't have to have yet another encounter with the devil herself.

"He _dumped_ me! He actually _dumped _me!" Audrey sobs into her tissue, blowing her nose gracelessly. "_Michael Williams_. Why did I even date that idiot?"

From the little gap in the stall, Lizzie can make out two other figures; Samar and Sarah.

"Maybe because you wanted to make Don Ressler jealous after _you _dumped _him_." Samar says humorlessly, and Lizzie stifles a giggle.

Audrey glares back at her and ignores this. "You know what Michael said when I asked why? '_I'm too cool for you.'_ Like, what the actual hell?"

Sarah rubs Audrey's back sympathetically, while Samar isn't having any of it as she leans back against the wall, arms crossed.

"You know what, Aud?" Sarah says brightly, attempting to put her arm around Audrey but she roughly shrugs her off. "You're _totally _better off without him."

Audrey manages a smile. "Thanks, you guys are the best. Besides, there's someone new I've definitely got my eye on."

"Ooh! Who?" Sarah prods, intrigued.

Audrey pauses for effect, clearly over her brief mourning state, then finishes, "I think I'm ready to get back together with Don."

Behind the stall door, Lizzie's eyes widen as Sarah stupidly points out, "But he's not new!"

_She wants Don back._

"Have you considered what Don would think for a change?" Samar's cold voice jolts Lizzie out of her thoughts. "Like after you dumped him and shoved all your 'dating' in his face, and then _now _you want him back? Have you even considered that maybe even _he _has moved on?"

Lizzie smiles a bit, glad that Samar had come to her defence, remembering how nice she had been and how knowing her looks were that night when she had given the infamous makeover.

Audrey gasps, as if she is offended. "Please tell me you're kidding, Samar. Donnie's totally still in love with me. Oh, no, don't tell me now that he's in love with that Lizzie girl. Why is he even associating with her?"

Lizzie withholds a breath.

Audrey waits for a response from either Samar or Sarah, but neither of them speak up, so she shrugs and quickly re-applies her makeup.

"Whatever. Donnie and I _will _get back together, and we _will _win prom court. This place sucks, why are we even in here? Let's go."

Lizzie hears Audrey and the other two leave the washroom, Samar grumbling to herself on her way out, and soon it is just Lizzie left alone.

She finally allows herself to exit the stall and heads to the academic decathlon meeting, but she can't help but feel curious of what will become of Don and Audrey.

…

For some reason lately Tom has decided to show up at almost every football practice, and Don had a feeling it was solely so Tom could annoy him even more.

Don was already feeling detached and distracted from the team, partially because lately he's been trying to improve his marks, but mostly because of Lizzie and that damn bet.

Clearly Tom noticed, because he called out every single bad play Don made during the whole practice.

But little did Don know it was going to be far worse in the locker rooms.

"So, Don." he says, smirking as Don finishes changing after his shower. "I hate to say it, buddy, but today, you _sucked_."

Don closes his eyes and purses his lips, saying sarcastically, "Thanks, Tom. I really didn't know."

He isn't in the mood for Tom's usual snark today, he already has a lot on his mind.

But Tom just keeps on going as he dries his hair with a towel, still wearing that stupid smirk. "So you gonna make a move on her soon or not?"

Don whirls around, but Tom just shrugs. "It's obvious you want her. Everyone can tell. She's already nominated for prom queen, just go get her."

"Thanks, but no thanks. You know, I don't remember asking for your opinion." Don snaps. The way Tom is acting is clearly juvenile and Don's trying his best to block it all out.

Tom ignores this, and keeps on going. "Well if you're not planning on claiming her, you wouldn't mind if I did?"

"_What_?" He now has Don's full attention.

"She's hot, we all know that now if we didn't before, so is it wrong if I make a move?"

"Don't you _dare _do anything to her, you son of a-" Don yells, but is abruptly cut off by Tom shoving him into the lockers as the others gather around them.

"You're only saying that because you want her even more, but you know you can never win when it's down to you and me!" Tom retorts aggressively. "Just admit it, admit _something _for once!

Don swiftly shoves back even harder, making Tom fall over and is about to punch him again until Pete rushes up to him and physically pushes him away from Tom.

"You stay away from her!" Don shouts angrily, picking up his bag and walking away.

"You know, Ressler, you may think that you rule the school now, but I swear, you're going to lose this bet and be the biggest loser this whole freaking school has ever seen!" Tom hollers back at him.

But Don just keeps walking, feeling the eyes of every single person in the locker room follow him out.

This is going to end the right way, Don knows it.

And Tom's not going to win this one.

...


	8. Chapter 8

...

The competition between Audrey Bidwell and Lizzie Scott for prom queen was heating up, and Lizzie herself doesn't even understand why.

Personally she doesn't care whether she wins or not, but with Audrey as one of her opponents, she knows now that she has no choice but to go through with the campaign.

And lately it seems that Samar has jumped ship and is now on Lizzie's side (of course, there were two other prom queen candidates and four prom king candidates, including Don, but nobody seemed to care about them). Turns out that Audrey seemed to have gotten on her last nerve with putting too much into the campaign, so Samar wants Lizzie to win and beat Audrey once and for all.

In Lizzie's opinion, winning prom queen really wasn't all that important to her, but somehow Aram and Samar had each gotten other groups of people to help and join her side; Samar had recruited several of her basketball teammates while Aram had gotten just about every other extra-curricular club there was (besides AV club) to help pitch in.

The week following the announcements for prom court nominees seemed to be like full-out battle between Audrey and Lizzie.

Posters of either Audrey or Lizzie are hung up on every single empty spot there was on the walls, and Audrey and her cheerleader lackeys, dressed in their uniforms, would enter the school with pens and flyers and even _free drinks _and hand them out to everyone who was within arms' reach.

As for Don, he was pretty happy about how things were going with Lizzie (and even the bet!). They hang around with each other at lunch every day, alone most of the time (Lizzie was now accepted by the popular crowd after becoming decently popular herself, minus Audrey and her group, but she still chose to lay low and sit in her usual spot with Aram, and usually Don), and Don has a feeling that she honestly, _actually_ likes him back.

Don also knows for sure that he's going to win that bet, and when he brought it up with Pete, he would just shrug and say, "I won't be surprised."

Soon enough there was only a week and a half left before the prom, and Audrey, taking it ever so seriously, seems to be in full-out panic mode after learning about an online poll for the prom court candidates that had Lizzie Scott eleven points above her.

In fact, when Lizzie walks into school Monday morning, Audrey and her posse arrive at the same time and she strides up to face Lizzie, her eyes blazing with fury.

Lizzie closes her eyes and waits for Audrey to begin bombarding her with whatever insults she has up her sleeve, but to Lizzie's complete surprise, she doesn't.

Instead, she puts her arm around her and says in a sickly sweet voice, "Honey, this is just some friendly competition, try not to get too caught up, okay?"

The school photographer snaps a picture, blinding Lizzie with the flash, and after Audrey roughly shoves her off and continues striding on, her group trailing closely behind her.

Lizzie gapes after her, not given a chance to say anything, much less open her mouth, and Samar walks up next to her.

"Don't worry, Lizzie." she says confidently, patting her shoulder. "Her attitude loses effect on you quite soon, and then it's just all rage towards her. And have you seen Aram today? I've been looking for him everywhere."

"Um, yeah, he's coming now from an AV club meeting. Why?"

"I don't know, I like him. He's a sweet guy. He's continuously offered to walk me to class, I figure now's a good time."

Lizzie looks up at her in surprise, but Samar continues to look into the distance with a slight smile

The bell rings, and her group disperses. Samar waits a few minutes but no sign of Aram she heads to class alone.

Lizzie goes in the opposite direction and finds Aram beginning to get cornered by three football players, as Aram timidly backs into the lockers, clutching his books.

Before she even has the chance to intervene, Don walks up to them out of nowhere and shoves them away forcefully, glaring at them.

"If you do _anything_ to my friend Aram here," Don says sternly, stepping in front of Aram, who nods proudly. "I will personally see to getting you three kicked off the team. You hear me?"

"Yeah." Aram echoes proudly, putting on a somewhat tough face. "You hear him?"

The three football players look at each other with uncertainty and disgust, then walk away along with the rest of the crowd.

Don takes a quick glance at Lizzie and gives her a brief smile, then grins at Aram, who returns it with pride, seeming to have finally accepted Don as someone trustworthy.

Don gives Aram a high-five, taking one last quick glance at Lizzie then walking off to his next class.

Aram catches up to her smiling, clearly knowing something that she apparently doesn't.

"You okay?" she asks, and Aram nods quickly, brushing it off. "That was, _bold _of Don. But I was going to help you-"

"Those guys would've beat me to a pulp if we weren't in a school hallway, there was nothing you could have done. Don-"

"-helped you."

"Yeah, he did, but he was also helping you. Helping _me _is basically proving a point to show that he's all for _you_. And now that I'm a _friend_ of Don Ressler, nobody is going to dare do anything to me." Aram says proudly, standing up straight with a newfound confidence.

"Good." Lizzie beams. "I'm proud of you."

They continue to walk down the crowded hallway to grim class, but Aram is wearing a knowing slight grin on his face, and Lizzie wonders why.

"What is it?" she asks him, raising an eyebrow.

Aram shrugs, although he's grinning a bit. "I hear someone's waiting to ask you out to prom."

"Who, Don?" Lizzie scoffs. "I doubt that. Don't tell me he said that to you." She doesn't completely mean what she says, because to be honest, Don Ressler was growing on her.

Far more than she expected.

But then again, he could just be using her for her popularity or something, because his interest in her seems too good to be true.

Aram raises his eyebrows playfully. "He didn't, but it's super obvious, how he looks at you. Everyone knows about how he feels towards you, it's going to happen, Lizzie, don't deny it."

"How about you?" Lizzie says to change the subject, even though she was pretty glad about how people perceived her relationship with Don. "You got a prom date yet?"

Aram diverts his eyes away from hers. "I'm going to ask Samar. I just don't know when. She's always hanging around those football guys, I'm worried they're going to ask her out first or stuff me into a locker if _I_ ask her, like they used to."

"It'll be fine, Aram." Lizzie comforts before she joins the class in the gym. "In fact, she'll probably prefer it if you were to ask her out somewhere _private_."

Aram's eyes widen, and Lizzie just laughs. "Don't worry. I have a feeling she likes you a little bit. She told me herself. She even told me you were a _sweet guy_."

Lizzie laughs good-naturedly and walks into the gym, leaving a dumbfounded Aram standing in the middle of the hallway.

...

Don decides that afternoon to see Lizzie after her academic decathlon meeting in Mr. Reddington's classroom, since football practice happens to end at the same time Lizzie's thing does.

He offers a curt greeting to Mr. Reddington, who just finished packing up along with everyone else.

Mr. Reddington observes carefully as Don approaches Lizzie at her desk with a genuine smile, before walking away with a reminiscent smile on his face, leaving Don and Lizzie alone in the classroom.

"How was educational decathlon?" Don asks with a dopey grin, not noticing his mistake.

Lizzie blushes. "It was, um, it was good. And it's actually _academic_ decathlon, not _educational_, but good try, Don."

"Oh. Sorry."

Don notices that Lizzie quickly stuffs a picture into her binder after forgetting that she had left it out, and grabs it before she can take it back from her.

The photo is of a young Lizzie, maybe four or five years old, sitting outside at a park with someone else, supposedly her mother.

Lizzie gently pulls it back and stuffs it back into her bag.

"Lizzie." Don says slowly. "I wasn't going to do anything-"

"I know." she crosses her arms over her torso. "I miss her sometimes, you know. Like I wish that she could be here with me. That's why I keep it with me, every single day."

She pauses, noticing Don's gentle but curious gaze, then says, "She died of cancer. Thyroid cancer. They tried everything they could, they did. . ."

Lizzie trails off, and Don, noticing a few tears welling up in her eyes, sits in the desk in front of her and holds her hand.

"It's okay, she would have definitely been proud." he comforts. "I mean, look at you, didn't you just tell me the other day that like three colleges accepted your letter? You've got your life set up for you, you're amazing, Lizzie."

Lizzie smiles a bit through her tears and nods as they both get up.

"Don't let what people think or do to you make you forget that."

_This is a good time to make a move. . ._ Don thinks.

But even before his instincts kick in, he slowly leans in and is about to kiss her. . .

Until she puts her hands on his chest and gently pushes him away.

"Don," Lizzie says slowly and softly. "You're not just here to get my vote for prom queen, are you?"

Don backs away slowly. _Is she catching on to this?_

"Listen, Lizzie, this whole prom thing. . . I got to run, I'm sorry." he scrambles to gather his things and walks towards the door.

"Wait, Don, I wanted to talk to you about that." Lizzie says quickly before he leaves.

"Um, maybe another time, our cousins are coming over and I need to clean the house. . . we'll talk tomorrow, okay?" Don replies in a jumble, almost tripping over the garbage can on his way out.

"Uh, sure." Lizzie answers skeptically, but he's already gone.

_What is it with him today? _Lizzie thinks as she packs up all her stuff.

Maybe she was right all along.

Maybe Don Ressler _does _have an angle after all.

…

Lizzie was becoming more skeptical of Don by each passing day, especially since he hasn't talked about prom like he said he would. They still hung out at break, but it was becoming awkward and both of them knew it.

Lizzie was starting to become skeptical of herself, going as far as asking Aram if she was 'kissable' (he had pointedly avoided the question, saying that he's 'known her since sixth grade' and it would be 'weird' if he were to give her an answer).

And Tom Keen, one of Don's teammates that he seems to hate, isn't planning on simplifying things either, because he shows up at Wing Yee's Thursday afternoon where Lizzie is working for the whole night.

"Hey, Lizzie," he begins, shoving his hands into the pockets of his letterman jacket, the kind that Don always wears. "I was, um, I was wondering if you'd want to go out. Like _out_, out."

_What is this guy's angle?_ He's already tried to make a move on her before and Lizzie thought she was clear that she shot him down.

Apparently Tom doesn't get the point.

Lizzie goes out of her way to push past him and continue to wipe up the table at which a family with rowdy triplets had sat a few minutes ago. "Sorry. Not interested."

She honestly isn't, because dealing with one guy she can't read

"What I mean by saying this," Tom continues, following her around. "is that I'd like you to go to prom with me."

Lizzie turns around, unmoved. "No way."

Tom blinks. Clearly this guy has never heard of the word 'no' before. "Uh, _no_?"

"Yeah, it's a no. A definite _no_." Lizzie sighs, continuing to clean the tables.

"Why, is this about Ressler?" his tone of voice is sharp, and she whirls around. "Has he asked you out yet?"

She doesn't answer, not because she doesn't want to, but because Don hasn't.

"Well, apparently he's still in love with Audrey, I doubt he cares about you that way." Tom's words are like a stab in the heart to Lizzie, and she leans against the wall a bit. "But if you were to go with me, I'm sure we'll have a good time."

Lizzie bites her lip. _Is Tom lying? Is any of this true?_

"Just, keep it in mind, alright?" Tom grins a bit, before turning around and heading out. "See you around, Lizzie."

Lizzie fixes the tie on her outfit and exhales deeply.

She has no idea what to do now

She isn't sure what is going on anymore.

…

Don passes by the main atrium Friday afternoon, where some of the seniors are taking out a few prom decorations and debating where to place them.

The prom is next week. _Shoot_.

Don isn't sure if he's going to win this thing anymore, and to be honest, it doesn't matter to him anymore.

Pete can have those hundred dollars for all he cares now.

Don wants to ask Lizzie to go with him, not for the bet anymore, but but because he wants to.

But maybe she's going to find out about the bet, and everything _will_ come crashing down.

Then he's got to make a move. _Now_.

"Hey, Donnie." a familiar voice calls out from behind him, and he turns around.

It's Audrey, wearing that stupid cheerleading uniform and a fair amount of lip gloss.

"So, are we still on?" she says putting her hands on his shoulders, but he backs away, pushing her off.

"On for _what_?" he has absolutely no idea what she's talking about.

"On for the _prom_, silly." Audrey rolls her eyes, as if Don had just missed out on a super obvious detail. "Remember? Our deal? You and I become prom queen and king again?"

Don scoffs. "What happened to Michael?"

"Ugh, don't even." Audrey puts up a hand in his face. "Like, didn't you hear we broke up?"

He shrugs. He did hear about it, but never really cared.

"So, answer my question. We're going together, correct?" Audrey repeats slowly, as if Don didn't understand the first time.

Don shakes his head. _No way_.

"Sorry, Audrey. I've got someone else in mind that I'm planning to go with."

Audrey's eyes widen mockingly. "Who? Lizzie Scott? Because if I were you, I would have asked her out sooner. Looks like she's already taken."

She tilts her head to look behind Don, smirking.

Don turns around, and he spots Lizzie walking in, holding an armful of cords of lights.

With _Tom Keen_.

"Tom!" he calls out furiously, stalking away from Audrey to face Tom as they put down the lights. "What the _hell _do you think you're doing?"

Both Lizzie and Tom turn around, and Tom just smiles. "Oh hey, Don. I'm doing what it looks like; helping Lizzie with the decorations."

"He asked you to prom, didn't he?" Don hisses, glaring at Tom.

"Yes, I did." Tom answers for her, stepping in front of Lizzie.

"Lizzie," Don says quietly. "I thought we were going together."

Lizzie looks down at the ground ashamedly, avoiding his gaze.

"Stop it, man. Enough is enough." Tom says suddenly. "Just accept that you were too late, because I like Lizzie for who she is. And just stop this whole bet thing, alright?"

Lizzie looks straight up at them, her eyes wide and alert.

"Bet?" she repeats, and now Don knows there's no turning back now. "What bet?"

"You wouldn't believe it, Lizzie, how stupid Don was." Tom says, his piercing cold eyes fixed on Don. "He set this whole bet thing up with Pete Maguire, to prove that he was over Audrey by choosing any random girl and turn her into his prom queen. He just wants his popularity back by winning, and also the hundred dollars he bet on you."

Lizzie's eyes well up with tears, her expression turning from hurt to anger.

"You know she has feelings too, Don." Tom adds, clearly trying to make things worse.

Audrey walks over and leans against Don, smiling slyly. "You didn't think this was all _for real_, did you?"

Lizzie doesn't respond, she just continues to stare at Don.

"Is it true?" she says softly, turning to Don. "I want to hear it from you."

He doesn't respond.

"Am I a bet?" Lizzie repeats loudly, her gaze changing from sadness to anger. "Is that what this was all about, am I just your _goddamn_ bet?"

The whole atrium turns quiet, all heads turned to the commotion in the middle of the room.

_There's no way out of it now_.

"Yes." Don says quietly.

Lizzie takes one last look of hurt and anguish at Don, one that he knows he will never forget, then turns on her heel and walks away.

Tom smirks at Don one last time as he follows Lizzie out, but Don just doesn't have the heart to react.

"Pick me up at six o'clock next Thursday. Love you." Audrey says all too sweetly, before blowing him a kiss and striding away confidently.

Don just stays there in the same spot as everyone else turns away, talking quietly.

Everything _has _come crashing down.

...

**A/N: Don't worry, things will look up for Donnie and Lizzie! I certainly don't plan on ****_not_**** giving them a happy ending. Sorry for not updating as fast I normally do; I've been really busy! Btw if you haven't seen the movie "She's All That" (what I based this fanfic on), you should definitely watch it sometime soon! It's a really good movie! :) Until the next update!**


	9. Chapter 9

...

He regrets it. He immensely regrets it. He knows there's nothing he can do or say to make things any better.

Even if he apologizes, she probably still won't forgive him.

Why did he _ever_ get so caught up in that stupid bet?

His parents tell him that the college acceptance letters came in the mail that day from the one college he's hoped most to hear from (he's studying business), which makes him temporarily happy, but the moment is fleeting after he remembers what happened at school earlier with Lizzie.

His parents, clueless of the events that happened today at school, are happy for him but not completely pleased, mostly because they aren't as fond as the college as Don is.

He should feel amazing about getting into his dream school and the fact that he'll be graduating with a eighty-eight percent average (eighty-four in math after working harder and finally bumping his marks up, with a bit of Lizzie's help), but he can't anymore, not with knowing that he had completely broken someone's heart and hurt her indefinitely.

He barely does anything that weekend except finish his homework and play video games, anything to take his mind off of Lizzie. He doesn't even speak to his parents about his college acceptance, but they don't bring it up.

Don sees her on Monday in calculus class and he wants to say something to Lizzie as he passes her desk, but she simply turns her head in the other direction so he thinks better of it and walks to the back of the class to his seat.

For most of the class he barely pays attention to what Mr. Reddington is talking about, math scholarships or whatever, and instead stares out the window, deep in thought.

Screw that one-hundred dollars, screw Tom, screw Audrey, screw _everyone_, he's done, he's so done.

Mr. Reddington calls on Don at least three times to make sure he's been listening, and he nods absentmindedly as Mr. Reddington looks at him disapprovingly, but he doesn't care.

He just doesn't _care_.

When class ends Mr. Reddington briefly congratulates Don on his college acceptance with a handshake. Lizzie gathers her books up as fast as she humanly can and races out of there before Don can stop her.

He notices this and feels his heart sink lower into his stomach and waits for the rest of the class to leave first before he does.

Football practice goes by like a blur, and he feels so distracted he is tackled to the ground and hit by the ball at least ten times.

Tom seems to be happy, because he's smirking throughout the entire practice, and just his mere presence reminds Don of Lizzie.

And Tom definitely notices this, because he tries to aggravate Don at every chance he has.

"Hey, pal, can't wait to see who you take to prom." Tom adds with a sneer as they leave the locker room. "But just remember that Lizzie's not an option. I'm taking her."

Don is tempted to punch Tom directly in that stupid smug face, but they're standing in the middle of a crowded hallway with teachers around, so that can't be an option.

So he walks away, fuming to himself.

"Sucks to be you, Ressler." Tom calls out after him, and half of the people in the hallway turn around to look at him.

Don just keeps walking, trying to ignore all the piercing stares.

On his way out of the school he bumps into Pete, who he saw at practice but never bothered to talk to.

"Hey, Don." Pete says, trying to sound sympathetic. "I've been meaning to talk to you all day, I'm sorry about how things turned out-"

"You know," Don interrupts roughly. "I don't want to hear it. What happened with Lizzie isn't your fault."

"Yeah, but dude, I kind of encouraged the bet, I didn't expect your girl to end up knowing about it-"

"But you weren't the one who had to look her in the eye for weeks and act like it wasn't all a lie, and then admit to her that it was. Thanks for being cool about it, though. I'll see you."

Don walks away from a silent Pete at moderate pace, trying to avoid any other human interaction.

He's had enough for one day.

...

He eats leftovers for dinner that his parents left in the microwave before leaving to visit Don's older sister Erica in college for a few days.

Erica is Don's only sibling and the person that his parents expect him to aspire to be. Erica is on her third year at Harvard on a full scholarship studying law (she's _that_ smart and Don knows that _he's_ not smart enough to attend Harvard on a full scholarship and he certainly doesn't have the funds to pay for it without one), and her boyfriend is a CEO of some big company, so she's basically got her whole life set out for her.

Don, on the other hand, isn't so sure on how good he's going to do in college and God knows he can't keep a girl to save his life.

He wishes he could live to his parents' and everyone else's expectations of him, but he can't.

He just doesn't know how.

He sits in silence for a bit after a few bites of lasagna, contemplating what to do next.

If he wants Lizzie to forgive him, he's got to try and mend their relationship, slowly but surely.

He's going to call her.

Don picks up his phone and dials her home phone number with uncertainty, then listens for the ring tone.

No answer.

So he hesitantly leaves a quick message, asking her to call him back, then hangs up without any mention of 'sorry'.

He sits patiently by his phone for another twenty minutes, then dials her number again and leaves a message, saying the same things. Then he continues to wait _another _twenty minutes.

Still no reply.

Don then decides that he should say something else, something more apologetic if she doesn't pick up again.

He tries it again, and sure enough, she doesn't pick up, and it goes straight to the message, and then the beep.

"Hey, um, Lizzie," he begins, stammering a bit. "How have you been? Look, uh, I just wanted to say that I'm-"

Suddenly someone picks up and Don stops short.

"She'd like you to stop calling, you jerk." a voice that is supposedly Aram's says harshly over the phone before hanging up.

The line clicks dead and Don shakily places the phone down on the table, putting his head in his hands.

He's messed this one up real bad, and now he's completely unsure of how to fix this.

…

The next three days pass by like a blur, and both Lizzie and Don don't have any interaction with each other.

Pete doesn't pester Don about prom anymore, and Lizzie has made a pact with herself not to even _go_.

Audrey has been texting Don every day and reminding him to pick her up on Friday night _two hours early _for prom preparations.

But Don's sure as _hell _that he's not going to take Audrey with him to prom. She's going to have to find her own ride.

He's just going to go and get it over with, and deal with whatever consequences there are of the bet.

Lizzie just isn't going to go. At all.

Nobody at school dares to talk about the bet, so Lizzie and Don both leave it at that.

...

Friday night finally arrives, and when it does, Don has a plan.

He's going with Samar Navabi.

As _friends_, of course.

It was actually quite easy to convince Samar to go with him, because she doesn't have a date to the prom either (apparently three guys have already asked her but she turned them down. "There's someone else I've got my eye on," Samar claims, but Don isn't sure who).

He picks her up with a smile. "So, anyone in particular you've got your eye on tonight? I mean, there's got to be a reason why you agreed to go with me that easily."

Samar elbows him playfully as she gets into the passenger seat next to him. "Shut up. But you're not too bad. I could do worse. And come to think of it, I actually may."

Don shoots her a good-natured glare, which Samar laughs off.

"Are you, um, going to do something with Lizzie? I mean, I highly doubt Audrey's in your plans for tonight." Samar asks carefully.

Don shakes his head, not lifting his eyes up from the road. "Nope. If she's not with Tom, she probably won't even show up at all."

"Aw, poor Donnie." Samar teases, patting his hand. "I'm sure she'll come around eventually."

Don shrugs it off, although he really hopes she does.

…

"Dad, I'm making a run to Target for groceries later tonight if you want anything-" Lizzie begins, sitting in the living doing her homework when the front door opens, and instead of her dad it's Mr. Reddington.

Lizzie blinks. "Um, hi, Mr. Reddington. I wasn't expecting you."

She wasn't, but Mr. Reddington and her father are very close friends (apparently they have been since high school), and sometimes her teacher decides to pop in for a quick visit whenever he feels like it, but since she's known him for that long, she's used to it and it doesn't feel as weird as it initially did when he first became her calculus teacher in high school.

Anyone else would have definitely called it 'creepy' (and Lizzie makes sure not to share the fact that her teacher is a family friend), but Mr. Reddington is like an uncle to her.

Mr. Reddington chuckles, stepping inside and examining the place. "Oh, I apologize. I was driving to the school and then I realized I forgot my hat when I was visiting your father earlier this afternoon."

"Oh yeah." Lizzie jumps up, remembering that she had found a grey fedora earlier that certainly doesn't belong to her dad in the rec room. She runs downstairs to the basement, grabs it, then rushes back upstairs and hands it to Mr. Reddington.

"Thank you very much, Lizzie, I tend to forget things far too easily these days." he says gratefully, putting it on and taking a quick glance of his reflection in the mirror by the door.

"Uh, Lizzie, if you don't mind me asking, are you going to prom tonight?" Mr. Reddington says suddenly, his face displaying concern.

Lizzie sighs. "No. I've got the calculus homework you assigned for-"

"I assigned it for Tuesday, not Monday."

"Oh. Well, I've got all this other homework too, and a project that due on-" Lizzie scrambles to find excuses until Mr. Reddington interrupts her with a sharp clearing of the throat.

"Lizzie, you've got to enjoy youth while it lasts." he says earnestly, stepping back into the room. "Sometimes, you have to let yourself catch a break. Do you know what your father told me this morning? That you've got _three_ colleges across the country to choose from, and you'd rather stay back another year and help him run the auto shop. Because you're _worried_ about him."

Lizzie closes her eyes, putting her pencil down. It was true; she doesn't want to leave her father alone here and move halfway across the country.

"I say, I was just like you when I was your age. I never let myself have fun. In fact, I missed out on _my _high school prom because I wanted to finish a project that was due a _week _from that day. My girlfriend was heartbroken." Mr. Reddington chuckles to himself reminiscently. "You've given so much to the world, why not let the world give something back to you?"

Lizzie thinks of Don, and how he probably is having a great time with Audrey at that moment, and how they are going to win prom court. . .

And with Lizzie it was all just a bet. Was it?

She wants to forgive him, she does.

But either way, it's too late. He's with Audrey now.

"I, um, I can't." she shakes her head sadly. Tom had continuously asked her to go with him several times and she never gave him an answer.

"What do you mean?" Mr. Reddington looks at her sympathetically.

"I can't go to prom tonight I mean. I don't even have a prom date for starters-"

"I wouldn't be so sure." Mr. Reddington glances out the window with a smile on his face. "Because there is a very handsome young man parked right outside, ready to take you out."

Lizzie's heart begins to race, and she closes her textbook. _Don? He came?_

"Have a good time tonight, Lizzie." Mr. Reddington smiles knowingly and steps outside, greeting her supposed 'prom date' as he passes him.

Lizzie straightens herself up as fast as she can, and sure enough, it's-

Tom Keen.

_Oh_.

She has to admit, he does look handsome, dressed up nicely in a suit and his brown hair neatly combed to the side.

"Hey, Lizzie." he smiles, walking towards her slowly. "Look, I know that you don't completely trust me. I've asked you out before, and you never gave me an answer, even after what happened with Don. I get it. It was probably because you were confused. Confused for good reason. But you need to know that you're more than a bet, Lizzie. And you're a whole lot more than that to me."

She looks up, her eyes wide and glassy. _Is Tom really saying this?_

"So, if it's not too late. . . Lizzie Scott," he says, closing the gap between them as he steps closer to her and takes her hands. "will you go to prom with me? You don't even need to wear a dress if you want."

They both laugh easily, and Lizzie looks up into his eyes, remembering what Mr. Reddington's advice.

_Tom's shady. . . _she thinks, but then he's looking at her with a kind, sweet expression. . .

_Oh well. _she thought. _It's one night, I might as well make the most of it._

"Okay." Lizzie nods, smiling a bit. "I'll go to prom with you."

Tom grins. "Great, that's great!"

"Just, hold on a second." she races upstairs, then finds the sparkly sky blue evening gown that she bought a few weeks back and puts it on.

Lizzie begins to put on her makeup as carefully and efficiently as she can, suddenly realizing that the prom begins in forty-five minutes.

She's not sure how things are going to end, especially with Don.

But she's going to try to make the most of the night, not for anyone else, but for herself.

...

**A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I've been so busy this week! But I will certainly try my best to update between tomorrow and Tuesday. Also I plan to start another story soon, but it will probably be after this one is finished! Thanks to everyone who has been sticking with this story, and I promise you Keenler will happen very soon :) **


	10. Chapter 10

...

Don enters the decorated main atrium with Samar behind him, looking around as the DJ starts to blast another song.

The atrium is decked out with lights, balloons, banners, streamers and more, and Don would be enjoying it more if Lizzie was with him, but that's not going to happen tonight.

A few people glance at him, probably looking to see if Lizzie is with him as he passes them, but Don pointedly ignores all of them.

He waits up for Samar, who is glancing around the room. "Found who you've been looking for yet?"

"Not yet. Hey, let's go upstairs where the food is, I'm hungry, I haven't eaten since this morning." she leads him to the stairs as the crowd parts to let them through.

It is much quieter on the second level although the music being blared downstairs is still heard, with a few students milling around eating from the paper plates.

"Let's grab a plate," Samar says as Don grabs a table, but he declines. "Nah, I'm good." Besides, the prom food sucks.

Once he sits down, he looks from the balcony to the throng of people dancing to the music downstairs.

He notices that the crowd parts for two people, and squints to see who it is.

It's Lizzie.

And Tom.

_No_.

Before Don can even think he abruptly gets up and starts to walk downstairs, passing Samar who doesn't even notice, looking disgustedly at a tart.

He rushes down the stairs and cuts his way through the oblivious crowd until he bumps into -

_Audrey_. _Shoot_.

To his surprise, when she sees him she beams and wraps her arms around him, looking a whole lot happier than he had imagined she would be.

"Donnie, hey." Audrey says with a smile that is all too sweet to be real. "Come on, let's take a photo."

Before he can stop her, she's already dragging him off to the photo booth and the school photographer, and Audrey beams for the camera leaning in to Don, who awkwardly stands there as the flash momentarily blinds him.

_That's going to be a great picture._

"You didn't pick me up at six like you said, so I had to get a ride from Sarah and Pete." Audrey pouts, following Don back into the crowd as he continues to search for Lizzie.

"Yeah, well, plans changed, Audrey." Don sighs, getting annoyed at her persistence. "Although there were no plans in the first place."

Audrey gasps, acting offended, but his attention is no longer fixed on her.

He's spotted Lizzie and Tom.

Lizzie looks beautiful, wearing a long, dazzling blue evening gown and her hair loose in waves around her shoulders, and Don wishes that it was _him _who was with her, not Tom.

_Tom._

Don starts to feel his heart sink as he comes to the realization that Tom has clearly won Lizzie's heart over tonight.

Tom Keen has won again.

He walks closer to them, eyes blazing. They're dancing to the music, and Lizzie laughs, having a good time.

He feels angry at himself in that moment, angry that his actions have cost him _this_.

Lizzie beams radiantly as the song ends and Tom leans in to give her a quick hug.

In that moment, Don's heart breaks, and it's no longer rage, or jealousy, but _regret_.

It was _he _who chose to participate in the bet, it was _he _who lied to her face for weeks, it is _his _fault that Lizzie Scott is dancing in the arms of Tom Keen and not his, and he regrets _it all_.

Just at that moment a slow dance song begins and couples make their way to the middle of the floor while the others walk to the back of the room ashamedly.

Don sighs, because this is his least favorite part of any dance.

Then out of nowhere Audrey pulls him over, puts her arms around him and begins to dance.

He lets her and joins in, because there's nothing he can do anymore. About _anything_.

There's no spark anymore, so why should it matter?

"They make a cute couple, don't they?" Audrey says with a smirk, watching with Don as Lizzie rests her head on Tom's shoulder and they slow dance. "Too bad that they can't beat _us _for prom court tonight, though."

All Don can do is helplessly look on.

So he turns around to face Audrey, turning his back to Lizzie and Tom, not noticing Lizzie's lingering glance in his direction.

…

"Excuse me, pardon me, sorry." Aram tries to find his way around a group of people who are standing around the food table and instead cuts directly through them.

His mother made him go to the prom even though he has no date and he really didn't want to go, saying that he "only has one prom in his life" and he "shouldn't miss out like she did" (he's even wearing a pocket square for crying out loud!). He saw Lizzie earlier with Tom Keen (which was kind of a surprise) but didn't feel like joining the crowd.

He attempts not to drop the full plate of food he has in his hand and succeeds as he reaches a table where just one bored-looking girl is sitting.

"Um, do you mind if I sit here?" he asks awkwardly, and is shocked to learn that the girl is Samar Navabi.

"Sure, go ahead." she says plainly, shifting her untouched plate of food to the side so he can sit next to her.

Aram does his best to hide the blush spreading on his face, because he's talking to _Samar Navabi_, the girl that he's only _dreamed_ of talking to.

"You good?" he asks, self-consciously running a hand through his hair.

"Yeah, just bored, this prom sucks. My friend, he ditched me and this food sucks." she looks up and smiles a bit. "Wait, you're Aram Mojtabai."

Aram blinks, surprised that she even knows his name. "Um, sure, I-I mean no, I m-mean yeah, ugh, _jeez_, sorry. Yeah, I'm Aram."

Samar looks up, lighting up. "Aram! Nice to meet you. I've been meaning to talk to you! Lizzie's told me a lot about you."

Aram freezes. "Oh, really? Is it good stuff? Um, thanks, nice to know you- _meet _you I mean."

Samar just laughs good-naturedly. "Don't you _hate _prom? There's like no place for single people!"

Aram's eyes widen. "Y-You're single? But yeah, yeah, I know what you mean. Like, I'm single too."

She smiles, raising an eyebrow suggestively, and Aram feels like he might just pass out right there and then. "I like you more than I did before. So tell me, what brings you upstairs to the lonely singles table?"

…

They've been dancing for a while (he doesn't want to dance with Audrey, but he doesn't really have a choice because they're trapped in the middle of the crowd and everyone around them was dancing), and Don was getting quite tired to be completely honest.

"I'm going to take a break." he mutters to Audrey, but she has already spotted someone elsewhere, Sarah probably and has walked away.

He shoves his way through the crowd and finds Pete standing with their football teammates in the corner.

"Hey, man." Pete greets, slapping Don on the back. "Having a good night?"

Don shakes his head. "Not really."

"Aw, come on, Don. I've already had three dances with Sarah, go ahead and get your lady."

"I can't. You've seen her, with Tom."

"Don't let that stop you, dude! Look, I'm sorry that I talked you into this bet, it wasn't cool and I should have never started it. You and Lizzie should have never had anything to do with this. But you've got to move past this! Put it behind you, and just go out and get her!"

Don nods, accepting his apology but still not getting the point of their conversation.

"If you want her," Pete continues, putting an arm around a beaming Sarah as she walks over. "just walk right up to her and do it. Trust me, you'll be glad once you do."

At that point Pete and Sarah start to make out, so Don and the other guys start to awkwardly disperse.

He lets Pete's words sink in, as he glances around the room for Lizzie.

"_Walk right up to her and do it."_

That's right. He has one more shot at this, one more shot before he never sees her again.

He's got to make it right, at least just be on good terms with her.

Don sees her on the other side of the room, standing by herself, without Tom. She still hasn't spotted him yet, but it's not too late.

This is the moment, his only chance to make things right.

But just as he takes one step in her direction, the principal steps up on the stage and calls for everybody's attention.

Don closes his eyes in annoyance as the music stops, knowing that he is about to announce prom queen and king.

_Just get it over with_.

…

Aram flushes the toilet, and unlocks the washroom stall door. He just finished chatting up Samar Navabi (who may actually like him back! She may actually _like_ _him_!), and he's quite sure they hit it off better than he expected.

Suddenly loud booming voices that can only belong to Tom Keen and his fellow football Neanderthals enter the washroom, and for fear of being ambushed by them if he comes out, Aram quickly locks the door again and tries to stay as quiet as he can.

"Man, I have got this in the _bag_!" Tom exclaims unsteadily. "She's fallen for every word I've said! I told you, Raimo, those six-hundred dollars I paid for that room at the Ritz-Carlton will be totally worth it."

Aram withholds a breath. _So that's his angle._

"I don't know, Keen. I wouldn't bet money on it." someone else replies.

"Shut up." Aram hears (and can smell) Tom light a cigarette. "This is my night, I can feel it."

"Whatever, man." the guys linger in there for another minute, then leave.

Once he is sure they're gone, Aram frantically opens the door, washes his hands, then rushes out of the washroom.

"Aram, what is it?" Samar asks worriedly as he approaches her breathlessly.

Aram quickly fills her in.

They've got to do something now.

…

"And your 2015 prom king is. . ." the principal finally announces after droning on for five minutes about how proud he is of the graduating class.

Don scoffs impatiently as the principal struggles to open the envelope.

_Please hurry up so I can talk to Lizzie_, he thinks to himself, tapping his foot.

". . . this certainly isn't a surprise. Don Ressler."

The whole room erupts into cheers and Don exhales sharply, walking over to the stage and halfheartedly high-fiving people.

Once he's on the stage, the principal puts the plastic crown on his head and hands him the scepter.

He spots Lizzie in the front row, who immediately looks at the ground.

_Please be done with this, _he repeats over and over in his head. _Please please please. . ._

"And your prom queen is, in the closest vote in ten years . . . _Audrey Bidwell_."

Half the room cheers just as loud for Audrey, while the other half who supposedly voted for Lizzie keeps quiet.

Audrey rushes upstage and grabs the tiara and scepter from the principal and puts it on herself, ignoring Don.

"Okay, Mr. Ressler or Miss Bidwell, any words to add for the graduating class of 2015?" the principal asks, handing Don the microphone.

Before he can begin, Audrey snatches it from him and starts speaking into it.

"Okay, to those for you who voted for me, thank you, you made the right choice," she says boldly, facing the crowd. "But for those of you who voted for _Lizzie Scott_, shame on you, that was stupid."

The crowd starts booing, and one of the teachers takes the microphone away from Audrey and ushers both of them down the stage.

Back on the floor, Tom joins Lizzie again. "You should have won that."

Lizzie shrugs, although she can't help but feel a little jealous as Audrey puts her arms around Don as the principal takes the picture. "No, it's fine. I never cared anyways."

"You want to get out of here?" Tom asks into her ear.

Lizzie watches on as Audrey kisses Don lightly on the cheek, and starts to feel that sinking feeling in her stomach. "Yeah. Let's go."

Tom takes her hand and leads her through the crowd as a few people grin at her and tell her that she should've won instead of Audrey.

The principal finally finishes taking their pictures and Audrey gives Don a hug before rushing off to meet some of her cheerleader friends.

Don breathes a sigh of relief, free from Audrey, as a few other people congratulate him. Then he spots Samar and Aram pushing and shoving through the crowd

"Aram heard something in the washrooms," Samar says, panting a bit after running through the crowd. "Tell him, Aram!"

"D-Don," Aram says breathlessly, as Samar urges him on. "In the washroom, Tom Keen was there, he said he bought a r-room at the Ritz for the night, he's going there now with Lizzie."

It only takes a few seconds for Don to register what Aram just told him, and then he's sprinting at full speed, throwing the crown and scepter to the side, out to his car.

Tom. So _this_ is what it's all about. _Son of a-_

"Wait, Don!" Samar calls after him, then hands him his car keys. "You forgot them at the table."

Don smiles gratefully. "Thanks Samar."

He gets into his car and drives off in the direction of the Ritz-Carlton (of course if was the _Ritz_, what was he expecting from someone like Tom Keen?)

He's got to stop him before it's too late.

...

**A/N: Only two more chapters left, and I promise in the next one Keenler will finally happen! Thank you to everyone who has stuck with this story since the first chapter! Until the next update :)**


	11. Chapter 11

...

Don races all across town, speeding past dozens of honking cars, even running a few red lights.

_I better not crash this car otherwise Dad's going to freak once he gets home after visiting Erica. . . _he thinks to himself as he nearly drives into a curb. _And this is probably illegal._

But he's got no time to lose. This'll all be worth it.

Don switches on his phone and plugs his earphones in so he can talk handsfree.

He dials the Ritz-Carlton's main phone line (he got the number from Aram who easily found it online within a matter of minutes and texted it to him) and waits for someone to pick up.

Finally, someone from the front desk does and starts to introduce themselves but Don cuts them off.

"Do you have a room reserved for anyone under the name of 'Keen'?" he asks, erratically changing lanes.

"_I'm sorry sir, we can't disclose that type of information unless you tell us your-"_

He doesn't let them finish and abruptly hangs up in annoyance, knowing that he won't get any helpful information from them.

And now all he can do is hope that Lizzie will be okay.

_She's a smart girl, of course she will._

_She figured about your bet, she can definitely figure this one out._

He tries to convince himself, but he still feels obligated to save her.

It always has been his obligation.

Then he has an idea.

Don makes a u-turn and drives back in the other direction, suddenly having an idea.

…

With a heavy sigh Lizzie takes the house keys out of her gigantic handbag and unlocks the door.

Tom Keen. She always trusted her instincts, and somehow she had a feeling the whole time that Tom was not to be trusted.

And it became crystal clear when he had driven her all the way into town and right into the parking lot of the _Ritz-Carlton _and told her they were there to have "a good night's sleep".

She's never going to get into a car with a seemingly nice eighteen-year-old boy again.

But Lizzie, being the intelligent girl she is, brought along a can of pepper spray just in case things got out of hand tonight, and now she was glad she did.

It took her a while to figure out what Tom Keen was planning on doing after he dragged her away from the prom, but when he was nearing the parking lot of the Ritz-Carlton with a sly grin on his face, it all clicked.

_He was using her for sex, if nothing else._

Tom Keen is a perfect example of the reason why Lizzie doesn't just trust any boy; for fear of having _that_ happening to you.

So then Lizzie thought fast and took the pepper spray out of her bag, then sprayed Tom directly in the face as he was opening the car door for her and ran off as fast as her heels would allow her to.

Fortunately the spot they had parked at was relatively far from the building so there was no one close enough to witness (or hear) Tom's reaction (which consisted of a lot of swearing), so Lizzie was able to help Tom back into his car seat safely and run off and call a taxi home.

(She doesn't think that the effects are permanent and is ninety-percent sure that it won't do permanent damage to the eyes).

"Dad, I'm home." she calls out, exasperated, and sees her dad reading the newspaper by the kitchen table.

"How was prom?" he asks, glancing up.

Lizzie sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. "It could have been better."

"Did you have a least a little fun?"

She smiles faintly, thinking of how Tom had danced with her and made her feel just a _bit _better. "Just a little."

He chuckles and gets up, patting her shoulder as he passes her. "Mr. Reddington called, he told me about how you didn't want to go to prom and all. What, or perhaps _who_ changed your mind?"

Lizzie smiles faintly. "Thinking back on it, I don't really know.

It's true. She really doesn't have a clue.

"Well then maybe let me help." a familiar voice says.

Lizzie looks up, and sees Don Ressler walk into the front hall from the living room, dressed in his prom suit and corsage and all.

Her dad grins. "Mr. Reddington told me all about it, and then this young man arrived and tried to apologize and begged me to let him in because he needs to tell you something. . . I think I'll leave you two to it. You can talk in the backyard if you like."

He walks upstairs with a small smile on his face, leaving Don and Lizzie alone in the room.

"Lizzie," Don says, quick and cautiously so he doesn't mess up like he has before. "I heard from Aram that Tom was trying to get you to-"

"I know." Lizzie interrupts softly. "I found out kind of late, that's all."

"Oh." he closes his eyes, relieved. "That's good, because I was really worried, but I know that you're a smart girl and all. . ."

He trails off, not really sure what to say next, but fortunately Lizzie just smiles and leads him outside to the backyard.

Don looks around. It's a pretty nice backyard, complete with a full-out patio and chairs and lights, and even a pool.

"We've decorated the backyard the exact same way each summer since my mom died." she says, avoiding his gaze. "She's always liked this arrangement, the lights, the chairs, the pool. . ."

Don reaches out for her hand and holds it, and to his surprise, she doesn't pull away.

"You missed your prom. And you won." she says softly.

"I know, but I don't care." Don takes a deep breath, thinking about what to say next.

"You know, times have changed, but sexual harassment is still a big problem." he continues cautiously, turning to face her but not letting go of her hand.

"I know." She looks right at him. "So I prepared myself. I brought, um, I brought a can of _pepper spray_ with me."

Don raises his eyebrows with a proud smile. "Really? And did you use it?"

"Yeah, but. . ." Lizzie bites her lip. "I don't think the damage to his eyes will be permanent. . . what do you think?"

Don laughs, and so does Lizzie.

_Easy laughter_, Don thinks. _That's a step in the right direction._

_No_, he contradicts himself. _I'm going to fix things right now. No more waiting around._

"Lizzie, when I did the bet, I didn't know you." he blurts out, clearly catching Lizzie off-guard. "I was stupid and selfish, I wanted people to respect me again and not see me as the dude who 'got screwed over by Audrey Bidwell', and I needed the money and the victory of the bet to prove it."

She lets go of his hand there, gently, and he's worried he's made the wrong move again, but he continues anyway.

"I was an asshole. I get it now. What I did you was horrible and you didn't deserve any of it, Lizzie. Nobody did." She looks up at him carefully.

"But then again, I'm sort of glad I made the bet with Pete. I mean, I would have never met you, and we would have never talked because I would continue to be a prick-"

She stops him right there, and kisses him.

A real, good, _honest_ kiss and it feels amazing.

This time it's Don who is caught off-guard, but he deepens the kiss and holds her tight in his arms.

It's gentle, but it's sure; they're both sure that everything is forgiven.

When they finally pull away, it's Don who breaks the silence. "You know, I've been meaning to do that for quite a while now."

"Well so have I." she responds with a quirk of the eyebrow.

Lizzie smiles again, brushing her hair away from her face, and in that moment he has never been in love with someone more.

"So since we both missed our prom," Don begins, and he know this time that he won't mess it up. "and I missed my chance to dance with the only girl I really want, Lizzie Scott, will you dance with me?"

"Um, there's no music." she says uncertainly, suppressing a giggle. "But yes, Don Ressler, I will dance with you."

And so they do. They both enjoy it, because it's totally romantic in an unconventional way.

"You know, I was kind of liking the glasses better on you." he says flippantly, pretending to observe her face. "You looked hot with them on."

"Shut up. Was I?" She's blushing now.

"Yeah, I mean you're cute without them, but _with_ them, _damn_-"

"Oh my gosh. Stop it, Don. I'm actually getting used to these contacts. This is just like when you said 'your eyes. . . are _pretty_'." She laughs at her impression of Don, and he thinks it is the cutest thing ever.

"Well what were you expecting from the quarterback of the football team? He's an idiot." He starts to realize that they were actually _flirting_, for the first time.

"I don't think you're an idiot. It was just so stupid and funny at the same time."

"Guess that's how things will be when you pair up the quarterback and the smartest girl in school."

"The quarterback and the dork. Nice." Lizzie laughs, shaking her head. "But what are you going to do with that bet?"

"Pete won fair and square, I'm going to have to give him the money he earned. Besides," he looks directly into her eyes. "it was definitely worth it."

Just at that moment the string of lights turn on, surrounding them in hues of gold and silver.

Lizzie snickers, and Don notices. "What is it?"

"Nothing. It's just that, this _such_ a cliché. _We're _a cliché. The quarterback and the captain of the academic decathlon team. Like in the movies."

"Is that a bad thing?" he's careful to ask her.

"No." she bites her lip, thinking. "Definitely not." She glances back up at him. They're both smiling.

So then they just keep dancing.

She kisses him again, and it's the best feeling in the world.

Once they pull away, it starts to rain, not heavily, but slowly and steadily.

_Like in all those romantic movies Erica made me watch_, Don thinks to himself_. _

And it's totally not cheesy in real life. It's romantic.

"Alright." Lizzie says, looking up at the sky as they both get soaked although neither of them care. "this is most _definitely_ a cliché."

Don just smiles.

"Cliché." Lizzie repeats with a half-smile, resting her head on his shoulder as the rain continues to drench them and ruin their prom outfits indefinitely, and Don nods, content.

Everything is _perfect._

…

**A/N: Okay, this was a whole lot of fluff, but I hope you liked it! Thanks again to everyone who has kept up with this story, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Stay tuned for the final chapter; I plan to post it in a few days! Until then :)**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Sorry it took so long to update! Hopefully this last chapter will make up for it! More at the end...**

...

So they're actually dating now. Not for a bet, not for any reason; they actually _want _to be in a _real _relationship.

Don's loving it, and he's sure that Lizzie is too. Even though there's only a week and a half left of school, they make the most of it by seeing each other every day whenever they can; unashamedly sitting with each other alone during lunchtime and hanging out after school (they even _kiss_ in public now!).

Audrey, clearly still upset about being abandoning her on prom night, isn't too happy to hear that Lizzie and Don are officially dating and is even more displeased after walking past them in the hallway as they kiss after class one afternoon.

Don's pretty sure the rest of the school has got the point that he's over Audrey, but it doesn't matter to him anymore, because he has Lizzie and _that _matters.

If only for eight more days.

Don wants to confront Tom about what he did (and was planning to do) on prom night to Lizzie, but Lizzie insists that he shouldn't and leave it at that.

Besides, Tom hasn't been at school for the past two days or so and Lizzie is starting to worry that she may have actually harmed Tom (Don tells her not to worry and that it was an act of self-defense).

But then when Don and Lizzie walk into school the next day, they are greeted by a swollen-eyed and _bespectacled_ Tom Keen.

Tom Keen, the guy who claimed himself to be a 'class act' when it comes to appearances and vowed that he'd never wear any type of eyewear besides Ray-Bans, was wearing _glasses_.

"Oh, crap." he hears Lizzie mutter as Tom stumbles to get to where they're standing by Don's locker, clearly a little bit disorientated.

People whisper and raise eyebrows at the sight of Tom, but he pretends to not notice as he continues to walk unsteadily towards Lizzie and Don, nearly tripping over his own feet.

Don can't help but feel sorry for the guy; he looks pretty uncomfortable with his eyes swollen behind his glasses and his face red.

When he finally reaches them, he does his best to shoot them a fake-smile but stops immediately, cringing in pain.

"Oh hey guys," Tom says stiffly, his voice sore and weak, but there is still a little bit of his signature snark and smugness in his tone. "Glad to see you two made it through prom night. In fact, it certainly seems a whole lot more than that. . ." he adds, noticing how close Lizzie is standing to Don.

"Hey, Tom." Don answers cautiously, torn between whether to feel bad for him or to punch him in the face (because he sort of deserves it). "You good?"

"If you really care to know, the doctor says I'll be fine." Tom replies, shifting his eyes to a petrified Lizzie for a second. "I was lucky. When your _girlfriend_ caught me by surprise and sprayed me in the face she missed and only got my eyes for a second. The effects aren't permanent, but it still hurts like hell. My vision wasn't affected, but my parents are making me wear these damn glasses all the time now so I won't get pepper sprayed again - they are _so _paranoid. Anyways-" he pauses to carefully narrow his eyes at Lizzie accusingly. "-I should be completely recovered before I head off to Harvard in the fall."

Both Don and especially Lizzie know that Tom is trying to act like his normal self with the usual pretentious remarks, but he's obviously suffering quite a bit.

Tom stands there for a minute more pursing his lips and observing Lizzie and Don expectantly, but neither of them say anything.

"Well then, I'll leave you two alone so you can suck each other's faces without me standing here as your third wheel," Tom says bitterly, walking away with his shoulders slumped.

Lizzie turns to Don, her expression guilty and eyes wide, and he knows exactly what she's thinking.

_I went too far, didn't I_?

He shakes his head. _You did what you had to do in self defense. Besides, he was trying to get into your pants._

Plus, Don still doesn't trust Tom. The guy's just looking for sympathy.

But she keeps on looking at him in that way, that look she has when she knows she's done something wrong and she's got to face it.

"Tom!" Lizzie calls out before Don can say anything. "Wait, please!"

She rushes up to Tom, leaving Don at the same spot.

"Look, I'm sorry." Lizzie says, looking sympathetically into his eyes. "I didn't mean for you to get hurt like, um, _this_." she motions to his face, making Tom consciously blink a bit. "Don and I, we don't want you to feel like this-"

"Yeah well that's just great, Lizzie," Tom interrupts rudely, leaning in closer to Lizzie. "It's great to know that you care about me, but seeing that you are the reason why half of my face is swollen and my throat is burning, I'm not so sure if I want to trust your word anymore. You're pretty damn lucky I haven't told anyone about it."

She stands there, clearly taken aback, and Tom takes advantage of this. "See, for a while I was actually _interested _in you because I thought you were cool and nice, but after this, I guess I couldn't have been more wrong."

Lizzie's eyes well up a little bit. "I was just trying to-"

Tom doesn't even let her finish because he continues, his voice becoming more hoarse and rough. "Maybe that's why Ressler's into you so much. He's a strange guy. Hell, after dating Audrey Bidwell and now you, you can tell he goes for a certain type of girl; the bitchy ones."

Tom purposely raises his voice when he says the last word so Don can hear, and sure enough, Don shuts his locker door with a loud _slam _and rushes over.

"Tom, please, leave." Lizzie says quietly, on the verge of tears. By then most of the hall has cleared and headed to class so it is only just the three of them.

"Keen, get out of here before I kick your ass and make that face a whole lot worse than it already is." Don hisses, stepping in front of Lizzie protectively.

Tom puts his hands up in the air and inhales sharply in pain after blinking too roughly. "Alright, good to know your knight in shining armor has arrived and he's going to save your back. I'm glad I won't be seeing you two ever again after school's finally ended. See you."

He backs away and to walk down the stairs, but stops abruptly. "Oh, and Lizzie?"

She barely glances up.

"Try not to attack your future suitors with pepper spray. That's a major turn-off." And with that, he walks down the stairs without taking a second look back.

That leaves Don and Lizzie standing alone in the empty hallway.

"He's a jerk. Ignore it, alright?" Don comforts, embracing Lizzie as she cries silently.

"Y-Yeah, but what if he has a p-point, you know?" she sniffs a bit. "What if he's r-right?"

"Don sighs, holding her tighter. Tom Keen is going to be who he's going to be, and that won't change. "He was going to sleep with you, Lizzie. You did what you had to do to save yourself. Pepper spray may have been sort of harsh, but Tom needed that. He needed that harshness to remind him of who he is. It may not seem like it, but you did him a favour. But who knows, maybe he can rediscover himself at _Harvard_."

She laughs then, at his impression of Tom, and he puts his arm around her.

"Come on, Mr. Reddington's going to murder us if we're another minute late."

Lizzie nods with a small smile, and they walk to class together.

Everything will be okay.

….

"Hey, man! Wait up!" Pete calls after Don the following day as he is about to walk out of the school.

"Yeah, Pete, what's up?" Don slows down so Pete can catch up to him and they walk over to the corner.

"About the bet," Pete says breathlessly. "I never got a chance to talk to you-"

Don closes his eyes and nods. "Don't worry, I'll bring the money tomorrow."

He's actually prepared to give Pete the money; he's even made an excuse about it to his parents (who didn't even know about the bet.)

"No no, don't." Pete quickly interrupts him. "That's actually what I was going to talk to you about. I know that the bet hurt a lot of people and I take full responsibility. So seriously, Don, you don't have to give me the money. It was just a stupid bet anyway."

Don raises his eyebrows, surprised. "Are you sure? I mean dude, you won fair and square-"

"No, _you_ won, so _I'm_ going to give you the money. I mean, who cares that Lizzie Scott didn't win prom queen because it was pretty damn close, and besides," he adds with a knowing grin. "She's totally into you now."

Don laughs a bit, and slaps Pete good-naturedly on the back. "Thanks, man, but how am I supposed to know if you aren't pulling my leg or something?"

Pete scoffs with a half-smile. "I don't know, you seem pretty happy with Lizzie Scott as your lady now, and that was sort of the point of the bet, to get her to like you. So I guess you won."

Don shakes his head in disbelief. "Thank you Pete, but you don't have to give me the money-"

"Too late, Ressler." Pete zips open his backpack and hands him an envelope. Don opens it with uncertainty and finds five twenty-dollar bills inside.

Don looks down at the money, then back up at Pete in disbelief. "Pete, this is-"

"-so unlike me, yeah, yeah, I know. But don't get too emotional yet because there's a catch. My parents started this new thing about the family 'being honest' with each other after going to some peace convention a few weeks ago, so they found out about the parties, and the late nights I spend on the beach with Sarah, and of course the bet. _Especially _the bet, so they kind of forced me to cough up a hundred dollars, but obviously _I _too felt obligated that I owe you, so yeah, here it is. Don't worry," he adds, noticing Don's puzzled expression. "I'm not broke now or anything. I'm sorry, Don. I really am. So take the money, and please shut up."

Don contemplates for a second. _Just take it_.

_Screw it._ He might as well.

Don grins without saying a word and slaps Pete on the shoulder, shoving the envelope in his bag and heads into the parking lot.

He knows exactly what to do with the money.

Once he gets home, he dials the local hospital - the one that Lizzie's mother was treated at, glancing down at the money in his hand.

It may not be much for a donation, but at least it's something.

…

The days that remain before graduation pass in a blur, and both Don and Lizzie make the most of what they have left.

Tom and Audrey aren't a problem anymore; Tom has made a point to completely avoid them (and has surprisingly kept quiet about the pepper spray incident, making up a lie about a 'cooking accident' to tell everyone instead. Maybe Don is right; maybe he _can _have a change of heart) and Audrey has resorted to smoking and hanging with a different and _darker _crowd, clearly not giving a damn about anything anymore because only half the school voted for her.

So for Lizzie and Don, those last few days are the best out of the entire school year.

Maybe even for Aram and Samar as well, who have started dating (to nobody's surprise. "I would have bet on it," Lizzie had said with a knowing grin. "but, well, you know what can happen.").

All is well.

Well, almost everything. For Don, there's just one more thing.

…

Graduation day finally arrives, and it's the perfect day. Clear and sunny skies, a gentle breeze, nothing could be better.

They've turned the football field into a makeshift stage and have set up rows of chairs in front of it. Everyone's wearing their gown and cap, and as dumb as it may look, Don's actually _enjoying _the day.

Lizzie is the valedictorian and delivers her speech flawlessly in Don's opinion, even mentioning something about a little 'bet' with a knowing wink in Don's direction.

Everyone (mostly) goes up on the stage to accept their diploma from Mr. Reddington, from a sulking Audrey Bidwell to a slowly recovering but still unsteady Tom Keen ("I don't plan on seeing any of you at Harvard," Tom adds confidently. "but if I do, it'll be nice to see a familiar face.").

Don goes before Lizzie and accepts his diploma, shaking hands with Mr. Reddington and smiling wide directly at Lizzie, who blushes and gives her a thumbs-up.

Then Lizzie is called onto the stage and she shakes hands with a proud Mr. Reddington as well, and stands beside Don, who takes her completely by surprise and kisses her passionately in front of the dozens of rows of their peers, who whistle and whoop and clap enthusiastically, especially Aram and Samar. Even Tom cracks a tiny smile.

The ceremony is over quite quickly, and the graduating class throw their caps up in the air and cheer, and Don has never felt happier, standing next to Lizzie, his _girlfriend_.

When mostly everyone has gone home with their parents, Don and Lizzie decide to stay back, helping Aram and Samar and the others stack up the chairs, but after stacking only a dozen they sneak off behind the stage and go to sit by the bleachers.

Once they've made it to the top row, Lizzie laughs. "We are so going to get caught for this!"

Don shrugs it off with a dopey grin. "Who cares. I'm tired of stacking chairs. School's basically over now."

"True." Lizzie nods with a smile, taking off her graduation cap and sighing a bit. "So, uh, I'm not sure if I've told you yet but my dad and I learned that someone had anonymously made a donation to the local hospital in my mother's name. It's a really nice thing to do, but-" She stares at him, sensing that he knows something. "You wouldn't happen to have anything to do with it, would you?"

"Me? No." Don is quick to answer but is clearly unconvincing, because she just looks at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Don," Lizzie says slowly. "Thank you, but you really didn't have to, you won it from that bet, it's _your _money-"

"Lizzie, I love you." he blurts out without even thinking about it, but it feels right. He has to say it.

She freezes, looking at him with wide eyes, and he hopes he hasn't said it too soon, but he continues.

"I love you." He says it again with more passion, because he's never been more sure of something in his life. "_That's _why did it. And I owe you and your family that much."

"I love you too." Lizzie says genuinely, and he's relieved that she actually feels the same way.

She leans in and kisses him gently, and in that moment there are no more doubts they have of each other, it is all real; this is _real_.

They finally pull away, and sit in silence, watching Aram and Samar almost fall over back on the field, trying to move a stack of chairs.

"You think they were watching?" Lizzie asks shyly.

Don shrugs with a smirk. "Who cares if anyone was. That was hot."

She laughs, playfully hitting him on the shoulder.

"So," Don begins more seriously. "What's next for us?"

"I don't know." Lizzie continues to gaze into the distance absentmindedly. "Do you think we can handle this long-distance thing?"

They've barely talked about it, but it's been on both of their minds since they started dating.

"We handled a high school bet already, I'm sure we can face anything now." He says jokingly, and Lizzie glances at him.

"I mean it. Like, do you actually think we can do it?"

"Yeah." Don answers confidently. "We're going to do it. I mean, how far is Washington D.C. from New York City anyway?" The funny part is, both Lizzie and Don are aiming to get a job in law enforcement; Lizzie a profiler and Don an FBI special agent.

Lizzie shakes her head, laughing. "Alright, alright. But that's like a four hour drive!"

"Don't you start having doubts about this, Lizzie Scott, because I know you are." Don says earnestly, taking her hand. "You're always going to be my girlfriend, the _only_ girlfriend that ever mattered, whether we're a couple living in two separate states or in the same room, you're always going to be the one for me."

She smiles and kisses him again, with more urgency, and he pulls her in closer.

"Hey, you two!" a loud voice interrupts through the speakers, startling Lizzie and Don as they quickly pull away. It's Aram with a microphone, standing in the middle of the field. "Try to pull yourselves off each other for just a few more hours. We're finished here, so you can go home now. . . um, if you want."

He walks off the stage, chuckling, and Lizzie turns back to Don, her face bright red. "I'm going to have to talk to Aram about that later."

Don laughs it off, helping Lizzie up. "Don't worry about it. That's all the embarrassment you'll get from me. No more making out in football fields."

Lizzie scoffs with a smile as they walk down the bleachers together.

"You know," Lizzie says with a playful grin, her eyes twinkling. "come to think of it I wouldn't be surprised if our relationship _does _go the distance. Like, after all that's happened over the past month or so, something's got to give. I mean, it would be perfect if we both made it into Quantico. We'd be like an FBI power couple!"

"Yeah. I like that." Don pauses thoughtfully, suddenly realizing something. "But the thing is, I'm not smart enough to get into Quantico."

"Of course you are! You've graduated high school with an average of eighty-eight percent."

"But Lizzie, this is _Quantico _we're talking about." Don says, grinning at his girlfriend's newfound confidence. "_You're_ going to get in, that's a given. But _me_? There's _skill_ involved, and thinking; two things you know I lack."

She raises an eyebrow, playfully challenging him. "Wanna bet?"

_THE END_

...

**A/N2: And that's a wrap on 'Not Just A Bet'! Thank you so much to everyone who read this story until the very end! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it! I do plan on starting another multi-chapter fic in the next few days or so, so please look out for it! Until then :)**

** -sugar1621**


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